State and federal agents who raided the homes of four men accused of plotting domestic terrorism found a cache of weapons, ingredients for a deadly toxin and explosive materials, according to search warrants obtained Friday by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The AJC has reviewed the warrants detailing what agents found in the homes of Toccoa men Samuel J. Crump, 68, and Ray H. Adams, 55, who were arrested Tuesday. (Federal prosecutors initially said Adams was 65.) The men were indicted Thursday on two counts -- conspiring to possess and produce the biological toxin ricin and attempted production of the deadly toxin -- the federal indictment says.
Search warrants were not yet available for Toccoa man Dan Roberts, 67, nor Frederick W. Thomas, 73, of Cleveland, who was described in an FBI affidavit as the leader of the "covert group." Thomas and Roberts were formally charged Thursday by a federal grand jury with conspiring to possess an explosive device and illegally possessing an unregistered silencer.
The items agents reported seizing from Crump's mobile home include a laptop computer, castor beans, "white powder in a cup" and books on safety regulations, hazardous materials and emergency response, according to the warrant. Crump once worked for a contractor doing maintenance work for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the affidavits.
From Adams' single-story home agents seized buckets containing seed pods, toxic plant guides, a container of acetone, castor bean plants, instructions for making ricin, some form of explosives, a machete and at least a dozen guns, according to the warrant. Further, agents found a sign that read "Keep Out or Die." Adams formerly worked for the Agricultural Research Service as a lab technician, the U.S. Department of Agriculture verified to the FBI.
Defense attorney Michael Trost, who represents Roberts, said the accused men have done nothing more than vent frustrations.
“These were just grumpy old men talking,” Trost said. “We still have a First Amendment. Words alone are not enough. If people are saying things that are outrageous and inflammatory, that’s one thing. If you carry it out, that’s another. ... If you don’t formulate the intent to carry all this out, then you don’t have a crime.”
Federal authorities, who began infiltrating the group’s meetings in March with the help of an informant, said the men discussed dispersing ricin throughout Atlanta and other major U.S. cities. In Atlanta, the documents said, the plan was to unleash the powdery substance on I-285, I-75 and U.S. 41. They also talked about assassinating state and federal officials, blowing up federal buildings and buying enough explosives to do it, FBI affidavits said. Some of the men said in secretly recorded conversations that they were willing to die for their cause, the affidavits said.
The federal indictment, handed up Thursday, means a probable cause hearing scheduled Wednesday before a U.S. magistrate will no longer be necessary. The four men will still have a bond hearing that day.
Dan Summer, a Gainesville lawyer appointed to represent Crump, said of the indictment, "I prefer to try the case within the confines of the courtroom, rather than in the media, given the enormous amount of exposure the case has already received."
Adams' lawyer, Barry Lombardo, declined to comment. A federal defender who represents Thomas, a retired aerospace engineer, could not be reached for comment Friday.
The story has captured attention not just for the details of its plot, which according to the affidavit was based on a novel by blogger and former militia leader Mike Vanderboegh, but because of the age of the accused. All except Adams are senior citizens.
Court records show at least two of the men suffered financial distress. Thomas and his wife, who formerly lived in Virginia, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy there in 1995. The couple owed small amounts of money in medical debts during the years leading up to their bankruptcy filing.
Records also show that in 2001 and 2002, the Thomases had judgments issued against them in the amounts of $8,056.81 and $9,224,27, respectively, owed to the Land’Or Club. There is a property owners association and lake community known as Lake Land’Or in Ruther Glen, Va., about 30 miles from the Thomases’ former home in Fredericksburg.
Roberts, who retired in recent years from owning a sign company, filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy in 1995, 1998 and 2006. Roberts, known as "Cobra" according to the affidavits, had several financial judgments against him in Stephens County. Court records show a number of people and businesses filed complaints beginning in 2004 in amounts ranging from $1,290 to $2,046. And in August 2010, two federal tax liens in the amounts of $927 and $6,612 were issued against him.
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