Before his arrest he managed the Hickory Farms store at Tyrone Square Mall. Beauregard had received publicity as the commander of a Pinellas group called the 77th Regiment Militia. Their rhetoric was skeptical of federal authority, as is typical for militia groups, but was not previously linked to violent threats. The plea agreement makes no mention of the people said to have conspired with Beauregard. In December, a former roommate of Beauregard's was arrested in Atlanta on weapons charges.
Charges relating to domestic terrorism are relatively rare in Central Florida.
In the category for internal security and terrorism offenses, which includes several potential crimes, federal prosecutors for the Middle District of Florida filed eight charges in 1996, five in 1997 and none in 1998, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, an independent database of federal prosecutions at Syracuse University. It would appear that in order to avoid a very long stretch in a federal pen, Mr. Beauregard decided to cop a plea. If I were innocent, I would not allow myself to be railroaded into a plea bargain, I can tell you that without hesitation. Innocent is innocent, just ask Bo Gritz. Yeah, they give everyone else a bad name and rap right along with their illegal activities.