Some of you might remember that last year Schaeffer Cox, leader of the Alaska Peacemaker Militia linked to the Sovereign Citizen Movement, and several of his followers were arrested last year for plotting to kill Alaskan State Troopers and a sitting US District Court Judge, Ralph Beistline, who was presiding over a tax fraud case brought by the US government against Cox.
Mr. Cox and two of his followers were indicted by State officials shortly after his initial arrest for conspiracy to murder Judge Beistline and law enforcement officials. A federal grand jury also indicted him and two other of his associates last November after the state charges for conspiracy to commit murder were dropped against Cox and four of his followers following their initial arrest in March, 2011. The state court ruled that FBI wiretaps of Cox that formed the basis of the charges were inadmissible in state court because no warrant was obtained by the FBI for the search. The state court held this violated provisions the Alaskan Constitution, which have more have been more strictly construed by the Alaska state courts than the fourth amendment has been by federal courts.
However, the federal indictment of Cox and his compatriots was not dismissed, and trial on the federal charges against Cox for conspiracy to murder federal officials and weapons charges proceeded to trial. Here is a summary of the Federal indictment against Cox:
According to the latest indictment, Cox, Barney and Vernon conspired to stockpile weapons, including silencers, hand grenades, grenade launchers and a “Hornet’s Nest” anti-personnel round “as part of their membership in the Alaska Peacemaker Militia and the Alaska Assembly Post, and in furtherance of their collective belief that at some undetermined and unknown point in the future they would be compelled to take up arms against the government.” The indictments also allege that Cox “did solicit, command, induce and endeavor to persuade” Barney and Vernon to kill a law enforcement officer, which carries an additional sentence of up to a 20-years.
The indictment alleges that with the Alaska Assembly Post, Cox formed a military arm, legal arm, judiciary and even his own currency, in preparation for a government take-over or to form a new government in the event of a “government collapse.” Cox also created a list of state and federal government employees — including U.S. Marshals, employees of the TSA and the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection, and Alaska State Troopers — and gathered personal information about them “so that Cox and others could kill them in the event of a ‘government collapse,’” the indictment alleges.
The trial began in Federal Court on May 8 of this year. Cox is alleged by Federal prosecutors to have made preparations that are tantamount to declaring war on the US government:
Government prosecutors allege Schaeffer Cox, the “Alaska Peacemakers Militia” leader, along with Coleman Barney and Lonnie Vernon were amassing a cache of unregistered weapons, including fully automatic machine guns, grenades and launchers in a scheme to kill government employees.
Many of those employees are outlined in a “hit list” according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors say the defendants were “preparing to act” before they were arrested on March 10, 2011 near Fairbanks.
The government plans to call 70 witnesses and more than 700 pieces of evidence in this trial.
Well, yesterday prosecutors played a tape of Schaeffer Cox speaking to the paramilitary wing of his militia in which he told them in no uncertain terms that they should “shoot to kill” federal officers. The tape was acquired by an undercover officer who had infiltrated Cox’s organization and was present at the meeting in which Cox incited his followers to murder federal officers he claimed had been sent to assassinate him.
Asserting that he, his wife and child had been targeted by a clandestine, six-man federal hit squad that had arrived in Alaska from a base in Aurora, Colo., Cox told his men they could get away with shooting them, even if it was better to avoid violence.
“They’re soulless assassins — if we kill them, they’re not going be missed,” Cox said. “These guys aren’t supposed to be here. If one of them messes up and gets killed on the job, they just abandon them. They don’t exist.”
The remarkable conversation, at a meeting at Cox’s home in November 2010, was recorded by an FBI informant who infiltrated the Alaska Peacemaker Militia in August 2010, Gerald “J.R.” Olson. […]
Olson began testifying in U.S. District Court on Monday in Day 9 of the trial of Cox, 28, and two other members of his militia, Coleman Barney, 37, and Lonnie Vernon, 56. They’re charged with conspiracy to murder federal agents and with violating federal weapons laws for owning or attempting to purchase machine guns, silencers, hand grenades and other arms.
Olson testified that he taped more than 100 hours of conversations with Cox and his fellow defendants. Prosecutors intend to play up to five hours worth of those taped conversations at the trial. Among other evidence presented was a taped conversation in which Cox claimed he had “secret allies” in the US Armed Forces, including an Army Officer at Ft. Wainwright who would provide Cox with “asylum.” Cox also was heard on the tapes claiming that he had received information from law enforcement and “the judiciary” about the FBI’s investigation of his activities.
Olson, who admitted he was a past drug dealer, began working as an undercover agent in 2009 for the DEA after he was arrested by state troopers for theft. In 2010, he was asked to infiltrate the Alaska Peacekeepers Militia and responsibility his undercover activities was transferred to the FBI. While Olson obviously does not have an untarnished background, it appears that the case against Cox and his fellow co-conspirators is based primarily on tapes where Cox is heard speaking directly about his intentions, as well as other documents and witnesses. Fortunately, the FBI had Cox on their radar since at least 2010, and did not ignore the threat the armed militia he assembled posed to the public safety and to local, state and federal government officials.
