Elderly Georgians Arrested For Terror Plot Involving Ricin, Assassinations, Blowing Up Buildings

By on November 4, 2011 in News 9

GAJB102_1180825eEveryone gripes about how ridiculous it is when security checks for bombs inside the shoes of 75-year-olds at the airport…but it turns out that Grandpa in fact is a menace. Via the Daily Mail:

Federal agents arrested four suspected members of a Georgia militia on charges of plotting attacks with toxins and explosives against unnamed government officials. The four – all over 65 years old – who authorities arrested on Tuesday, were expected to appear in federal court in Gainesville on Wednesday afternoon.

Court documents state that 73-year-old Frederick Thomas told others he intended to model their actions on the online novel Absolved, which involves small groups of citizens attacking U.S. officials.

Thomas is part of a group that also tried to obtain an unregistered explosive device and sought out the complex formula to produce ricin, a biological toxin that can be lethal in small doses, according to a federal complaint.

The four listed in the indictment are Thomas; Dan Roberts, 67; Ray Adams, 65; and Samuel Crump, 68. The men live in the north Georgia towns of Cleveland and Toccoa. On September 17, prosecutors say Crump was recorded by a confidential informant as saying he would like to make ten pounds of ricin, which would be simultaneously placed in several U.S. cities. The group had been talking about ‘covert’ operations since at least March, according to court records, discussing murder, theft and using toxic agents and assassinations to undermine the state and federal government.

Thomas is accused of driving to Atlanta with a confidential informant on May 24 and scoping out an Internal Revenue Service building there and an ATF building ‘to plan and assess for possible attacks’, the indictment states.

At a meeting in April, Thomas said the ‘civilian government operatives’ the militia members would be targeting included police officers and members of federal law enforcement groups, such as the IRS and FBI, the affidavit said.

‘I could shoot ATF [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] and IRS all day long,’ Thomas said, according to the affidavit. ‘All the judges and the DOJ [Justice Department], and the attorneys and prosecutors.’

Thomas is accused of driving to Atlanta with a confidential informant on May 24 and scoping out an Internal Revenue Service building there and an ATF building ‘to plan and assess for possible attacks’, the indictment states. ‘We’d have to blow the whole building, like Timothy McVeigh,’ Thomas said during the Atlanta trip, referring to the man executed for bombing a federal building in Oklahoma City, the indictment states.

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  • http://www.ContraControl.com/ Zenc

    It says a lot about a society when even the people most vested in it – people who should be the repositories of its wisdom, culture, traditions and values – are actively plotting against its institutions.

  • Mamagriff50

    Do you think maybe they’re a little fed up with the government and our society as a whole today?  

  • Mr Willow

    I wonder how long before the media begin connecting this with OWS (or Occupy Atlanta in this case)? 

    Despite this plot being organised since March—and you can bet they will largely leave out that very pertinent fact—I have a feeling they will simply draw a line, claim the Occupy movement is connected with terrorist cells, and scream their hearts out about how much more security, more police, and more of a crackdown needs to be implemented in response. 

    Are those soldiers boots I hear?

  • Mr Willow

    The only people not fed up with the system are those benefiting from the system and those that believe the lies they have been told regarding it. (that trickle-down economics works at any capacity and that private industry can solve every problem society faces)

    It reminds me of the Pete Wentz quote:

    “If you aren’t just a little bit depressed, then you aren’t paying very much attention to what’s going on in the world.”

  • Anti-Citizen1

    Yes, but why are they fed up? Are they actually effectively Identifying the genuine roots of our problems? Do they even consider the same things problems that we do? Do they believe in growth, and de regulation and exploitation? Their problems with the system may not be the same as your problems with the system.

  • Simiantongue

    A “Georgia militia”? They were more than a Georgia militia, they were a Christian right militia group. OF course if they were Muslims their religion and political alignment would play a big part in how this is reported. But being christian or right wing doesn’t seem to come into this story at all.

    Ever see the talk between Robert Trivers and Noam Chomsky about ‘verbal switches’? It was posted here on Disinformation some time ago; fast forward to the 18:25 mark to see the pertinent part. Prime example in this article how propaganda is, well… propagated.

    http://disinfo.com/2010/11/robert-trivers-discusses-deception-with-noam-chomsky/

    In this case we see the actions of these Christian right people are individualized as some militia, far flung radicals. But if they were Muslims, no doubt their actions would be attributed to the entire group. Generalize positively to ourselves and those in our group and individualize the negative. We do the exact opposite when talking about people from groups we don’t associate ourselves as being part of. Just thought it would be pertinent to point out the “Disinformation” in this article.

  • Anonymous

    We need a show like “To catch a predator” except you bait and expose the agency provocateurs and informants that entice and set up these type stings.  Perhaps Sacha Baron Cohen could pull it off.

  • http://buzzcoastin.posterous.com BuzzCoastin

    It sounded serious till I read that:
    At a meeting in April, Thomas said the ‘civilian government operatives’
    the militia members would be targeting included police officers and
    members of federal law enforcement groups, such as the IRS and FBI, the
    affidavit said.

    So there was no danger to real Americans at any time.

    Besides that
    they don’t seem to have actually done anything more
    than talk about what they would do someday if they could
    which is what politicians do all the time
    talk but never deliver.

  • Grandpa Simpson

    This doesn’t surprise me at all. I’m sure there will be more senior citizens rising up in the future, with all the baby boomers getting on. Your old, your broke, what do you have to lose?