A Colorado Springs man convicted on weapons charges in federal court was allegedly planning to build a school espousing White supremacist ideology in rural Fremont County.

His wife, who now faces similar federal charges, says his plans were exaggerated in court. 

Rebecca Duncan, 58, said that she and her husband were not White supremacists, but that Chad Keith would describe himself as a “national socialist.” She said that allegations by a Federal Bureau of Investigation’s informant about Keith starting a White-only community on his rural property in Cotopaxi were false. 

“That’s a lie,” she said. “That’s just a fabrication on someone else’s part.” 

Keith, 42, was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison for the possession of firearms by a prohibited person on Jan. 30. Keith served time previously after being convicted of being in possession of an unregistered explosive device in 2003, making him ineligible to legally possess the firearms authorities found across his two properties. 

Keith’s wife Duncan is now also facing charges stemming from weapons found in her and Keith’s residences. According to court documents, Duncan was allegedly in possession of a pistol and a revolver along with ammunition. Previously convicted on felony theft charges in 2006, Duncan is also legally ineligible to own firearms. 

According to a criminal complaint filed by the FBI, Keith was in possession of 11 firearms including rifles and a shotgun at the time of his arrest in May of last year. Keith became the subject of an FBI investigation after tips came in to the Denver field office about Keith’s attempts to obtain firearms. 

While the sole subject of the criminal charges, possessing firearms was not the only activity discussed in the court case against Keith. 

According to an FBI criminal complaint, a confidential informant told FBI investigators that Keith described himself as a “national socialist” and expressed antisemitic ideology. According to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado, FBI investigators found a flyer inside Keith’s Colorado Springs house with the Star of David overlaid like a bull’s-eye with pictures of politicians, among items related to White nationalism and Nazism.  

The informant said that Keith, who lives in Colorado Springs, was attempting to turn his rural, 2.6-acre property in Cotopaxi into a “White-only community,” where he would start a weapons-training school for young people.  

According to the FBI complaint, Keith was seen handling firearms on the Cotopaxi property. In the complaint, the informant described visiting Keith’s property, where the informant, Keith and others brought guns to go shooting on nearby federal Bureau of Land Management property.

A spokesperson with the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office said that the office passed along complaints of automatic gunfire coming from the property to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in 2020. 

How defined Keith’s alleged plans were for the Cotopaxi property as a White supremacist are less well-documented. Duncan said that her and Keith’s plans for the property were still up in the air at the time of his arrest. 

Duncan said that the school’s purpose would have been primarily to teach “survivalist” skills, but said that weapons training was an important part of that skillset.

She said they planned to use the property for recreation and as an Airbnb. Duncan also said that the threatening flyer mentioned in the FBI investigation was not made by Keith. 

David Coote who, according to property tax records, owned the Cotopaxi property prior to Keith and sold it to him in 2019, said he knew Keith to be “blunt” about his beliefs. He said that he and several neighbors attended a meeting at Keith’s property where he was attempting to recruit “like-minded” neighbors to support his ideology and efforts to create a school.  

“I don’t think he would hurt anybody,” Coote said.