Tuesday, March 30, 2010

For those of you who took me to task for saying the Hutaree had a provocateur within. . .

The indictment made that clear if you could read between the lines. Here it is spelled out in the Wall Street Journal. When are you going to stop doubting your old Uncle Mike?

Mike
III

MARCH 30, 2010, 8:11 P.M. ET

Militia Probe Included Undercover Agent
Group's Leader Described as Private Man Who Nurtured Mistrust of Government


By ALEX P. KELLOGG, LAUREN ETTER, KEITH JOHNSON and TIMOTHY W. MARTIN

The leader of a Michigan militia group charged this week with conspiring to kill law-enforcement officers was described Tuesday as a private, family-oriented man who nurtured a festering mistrust of governmental authority, according to people close to the family.

"On the inside of this man's brain, something evil lurks, and until you get to know him, you don't know it," said Andrea Harsh, who was engaged to David Brian Stone Sr. until the couple broke up last year.

She described Mr. Stone, a trim 45-year-old man who wears his whitish hair cropped short over spectacles and a bushy gray mustache, as having a "bubbly personality." But he become consumed by the Hutaree, she said, a southeastern Michigan militia group that described its members as "Christian warriors."

In an indictment Monday, federal authorities named Mr. Stone as leader of the Hutaree and accused him and eight members with plotting to spark an uprising against the U.S. government by killing police. Along with Mr. Stone, seven other men and one woman from Michigan, Ohio and Indiana are in being held without bond on weapons and sedition charges.

The indictment said Hutaree had practiced attacks and other military maneuvers for more than a year, and had planned to kill a law-enforcement officer, then use homemade bombs to attack officers who attended the funeral.

An undercover agent played a role in the investigation that led to Monday's indictments. Grand jury testimony by a law enforcement officer referred to an "undercover FBI agent" who worked on the case. The FBI declined to comment, but infiltration is a common tactic for law-enforcement officials targeting domestic militia groups.

Those charged in the case included Mr. Stone's current wife, Tina Mae Stone, 44; as well as two sons, David Brian Stone Jr., 19; and Joshua Matthew Stone 21. Attorneys for Ms. Stone, David Jr. and Joshua declined to comment Tuesday; the senior Mr. Stone had no attorney as of late Tuesday.

The Hutaree appears based at Mr. Stone's home, a pair of dilapidated house trailers near the intersection of dirt roads in rural Clayton, Michigan—population 303—about 85 miles southwest of Detroit. The yard this week held three cars, a dog house, debris and a gun leaning on an old washing machine.

Family members and acquaintances said Mr. Stone doesn't curse, smoke or drink alcohol and was a strict disciplinarian with his sons, whom he home-schooled from a young age. While he rarely attended church, he studied the Bible nightly, memorizing long passages, said Ms. Harsh, his ex-fiance. Several scripture passages appear on the Hutaree Web site.

On his page on the MySpace social-networking site, Mr. Stone, using the alias of "(RD) Merzonik," listed his interests as "GOD, Guns and Girls." He said he liked action and science-fiction movies and writes, "only dead people are true heroes ... so I guess I don't have any." He listed his hometown as, "Wasteland, America," and 73 MySpace friends include several state and county militias.

Mr. Stone is listed as a 1982 graduate of Sand Creek High School on an alumni Web site. Donna Stone, his ex-wife, said she met Mr. Stone in the mid-1990s when she worked at a deli counter and he was a customer. They enjoyed the movies, she said, and he was charming and funny.

But Mr. Stone increasingly displayed a stubborn streak, as well as an affinity for guns. Ms. Stone, 44, said she left him after about a decade together. "When he went from handguns to big guns, I said, 'Enough,' " she said.

Court documents reveal an undercover FBI agent was part of the investigation of a Michigan-based Christian militia group that allegedly plotted to spark an uprising against the government by killing police officers. Plus, in a major push against the health overhaul, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce plans to spend $50 million to sway election outcomes; and the News Hub discusses how a six-year high in the number of stocks hitting 52-week highs is not necessarily a bad sign for stocks.

Ms. Harsh, 40, said she began dating Mr. Stone in 2008 after meeting him at a plastics recycling factory where they worked. Mr. Stone showed her a Hutaree business card when they met, but otherwise said little about the group while they dated for several months.

After moving in together, Ms. Harsh said, he spent hours on the computer, building the group's Web site and searching online for weapons. "His life was pretty much consumed by the Hutaree," she said.

Mr. Stone despised authority, Ms. Harsh said, particularly "anyone with a badge." She said his temper finally drove her away last year. Mr. Stone remarried a few months later.

Ron Gaydosh, 62, said he had known Mr. Stone for more than 15 years, and frequently invited the Stones over for barbecues. He described Mr. Stone as a "good guy," with "all-around good kids," and said the family enjoyed hunting, fishing and trapping.

He said Mr. Stone was easily upset by talk of the government. "Some of the things that upset Dave also upset me," said Mr. Gaydosh, who belongs to another militia group with no ties to Hutaree. They frequently discussed survivalist techniques and poked fun at government officials, he said, but "there was never any violence planned."

Mr. Gaydosh said Mr. Stone didn't like law enforcement officials driving by and shining lights at Mr. Stone's house, adding that he always referred to police as "feds." Mr. Stone also didn't like neighbors complaining about his target shooting, Mr. Gaydosh said.

It's not clear whether Mr. Stone had money troubles. Ms. Harsh said he was working at Demlow Products, an auto-industry supplier in Clayton; a person who answered the phone at the company declined to comment. Mr. Stone and his ex-wife, Donna Stone, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in 1999.

Over the past couple of years, Mr. Stone attracted more Hutaree members, Ms. Harsh said: "His goal was to have all of the states have at least one group of Hutaree."

But he scared off some potential recruits. Jon Killman said he visited Mr. Stone and his sons in December because he was interested in joining a militia to practice survival skills.

He said Mr. Stone was a gracious host and offered him coffee. But soon Mr. Killman "got a bad vibe" as the Stones started joking about police officers who'd been shot in a coffee shop in Washington state.

The family's dining room table was strewn with shotgun shells, Mr. Killman recalled. The elder Mr. Stone said the shells would be filled with gunpowder and tied to trip wires to simulate landmines.

At first "they just seemed like a down-to-earth hillbilly family," he said. "After 20 minutes into the meeting, I realized these guys are not dealing with a full deck."

Matt Savino, commander of the Lenawee Volunteer Michigan Militia near Mr. Stone's home, said in recent months Mr. Stone became "paranoid" and began asking other militia groups to join in military exercises.

Mr. Stone began talking more about how "the federal government was coming down on them" and the need to be on the offensive and retain the element of surprise, Mr. Savino said.

Ms. Harsh said Mr. Stone "always thought he could hide from the government. He thought he was invincible."

13 comments:

jon said...

Court documents reveal an undercover FBI agent was part of the investigation of a Michigan-based Christian militia group that allegedly plotted to spark an uprising against the government by killing police officers. Plus, in a major push against the health overhaul, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce plans to spend $50 million to sway election outcomes; and the News Hub discusses how a six-year high in the number of stocks hitting 52-week highs is not necessarily a bad sign for stocks.

...what?

does my brain just shut off in the middle of this paragraph whenever i read it, or is this a utter non-sequitur?

Anonymous said...

You think they would just come out and say it, hailing the man as a brave and nobel public servant.

Anonymous said...

Take solace in the fact that they just used the tried and true.

Pickdog
III

Anonymous said...

Mike, when did Feelings and opinion supplant evidence and critical thinking? Hell, I'm outta here.......Stupid cannot be fixed. It appears to me by just paying haphazard attention to most events that if 95% of the "IDGITS" start running for the cliff then the other 5% that run the other way or DO NOT RUN and stay put(simply because they are just smart enough to NOT run with the herd because of the 1 shit bird that said RUN) are now the DUMBASS's or EVIL ones......WTF? Reality is wrong side out now!

Chris
III

Anonymous said...

Another honorable mention Mike.

I Can’t Believe They Didn’t See This Coming.

http://www.zombie-slayer.com/neal/

mike/III
Texas

Gaviota said...

Chris:

Uh... what? Why exactly are you "out of here?"

Montana said...

Its time to get all these tax dodgers in jail, bunch of freeloaders. It time they pay their fair share, they always have money for guns don't they!

Anonymous said...

They're lucky they had only one. One rather famous group back in the 80's had two amongst them, and there were still only 10 indictees after all the attention. The fibbies made up a lot of the evidence against the people in question - not that they really had to . . .
-JRM
III

W W Woodward said...

All nine of the defendants are accused of attempted use of weapons of mass destruction and possessing a firearm during a crime of violence.

These people may very well be nuttier than a herd of peach orchard boars, but I have yet to see any reference to any of them having been involved in a “crime of violence” in any of the news stories or in the indictment. One would think that even the most inept of the lot would be able to keep a fuse on a pipe bomb lit long enough to manage more than just an attempt.

Unless some other charges worm themselves out of the woodwork, it’s going to be interesting to see what the Federal prosecutors are going to plea bargain these charges down to in order to avoid embarrassment in court.

Of course, I could be wrong.

[W-III]

Dakota said...

Yeah, I figured it was a insider too Mike. Same old playbook, that's exactly the way I figured it. I can about bet ya that the snitch was the one doing most of the talking too. Hell he was probably the one buying the supplies at the hardware store.

What a gold mine a few weak minded people and the next thing you know you are a huge headline and discrediting everyone from Christians to the Tea partyers..... oh and of course the militia.

Anonymous said...

the real goal of this exercise against the Hutarees is precisely this media frenzy over this "terrorist" threat. It will start to ramp down soon and only serve as a referential excuse by the MSM against lovers of freedom while the legal proceedings will be off the radar and somewhat less than they are being portrayed as now. As previously noted, the charges themselves are aimed straight at the heart of the Oath Keepers movement.

This appears to be a classic case of a plant whipping the group into a frenzy so they can be custom built to fit the Gov's agenda. They've been working the emotional manipulation angle for a while now and are getting good at it.

Anonymous said...

found it interesting that the leader of the group lived in a rural area and yet the police would spotlight His property. seem's to Me that someone was pushing a lot of buttons to keep this Guy pissed off at the Police .

Texican said...

Well, look at it from the Government's viewpoint. As the Chinese say," Wring the chicken's neck to get the dog's attention." From the start the Obama administration has had a fixation on militias. So they go after a low-hanging fruit -- the Hutarees. In the process they get headlines they want, they paint militias as terrorists, the Fed agencies and the local law enforcement folks get to plan and run an operation together to make future operations work better, and they send a signal to everyone on their watch lists -- we're looking at you. The Feds are just plain lucky that the Hutarees did not make a stand -- but the Feds were counting on it.