Militia Trial: FBI Informant Testifies

What an interesting day in court, in which we find out that one Mr. Bill Fulton, (now disappeared, and formerly of the Drop Zone military surplus store) has one giant potty mouth. I’m guessing his mother wasn’t an “open up, here’s the bar of soap” kinda gal.  Monday’s only witness for the afternoon session was JR Olson, one of two FBI informants in the case, and someone whose testimony I’ve been eagerly awaiting. He is “an unsavory character with a checkered past” as my grandmother would say. You might even call him a “ne’er do well.” And in exchange for going undercover and working with the FBI, this scallywag had the charges dropped on another case that would have sent him back to the GreyBar Hotel.

I’ve normally been sitting in on the morning session, but today I was there for the afternoon. It was a fortuitous choice. The morning witnesses were Dick Olson (no relation) who works at the KJNP compound in North Pole, Alaska testifying to the incident I covered in the last post. And there was a DNA expert with some evidence about firearms. I’m a science geek, and I love me some DNA testing, but Olson’s was the testimony not to miss.  Unfortunately, I did miss the very beginning of Olson’s testimony in which we learned, from what I hear, about his cocaine trafficking gig while driving trucks for the Fred Meyer store. A guy’s gotta make a living.

As I entered the courtroom, the first words I heard from Federal prosecutor Steve Skrocki were, “Mr. Cox said you needed to be prepared to kill federal law enforcement officers?”

And then a man on the stand replied, “Need to be prepared to kill ‘em and stomp ‘em through the ice if it came to that.”

It was quite a time to make an entrance. I had a feeling this witness was JR Olson, and I was right. As I settled in, the questioning quickly turned to CS gas canisters.

“The first time I recall seeing the canister was out at Lonnie Vernon’s house. A couple months later there were a couple of them strapped to a flak jacket Schaeffer had.”

Olson transported Cox from the Vernons’ house where he had been staying, to the Barneys’ house. “I saw it then. It was hanging from a couple hooks or straps of some kind. I carried it out and I seen it on there.”

“How many canisters?” asked Skrocki.

“I saw two.”

The prosecution flashes a slide of the flak jacket in question, which seemed to be stuffed with all sorts of things, the most obvious of which were the 2 CS canisters. Also in the picture was the hearth of a fireplace. Next to the vest on the left was one of those pop up toys for young children, where you push the button, and the little plastic hatch opens, and the hippo or the tiger pops up. On the other side of the vest was a plastic sippy cup with some milk still in it. Olson identified the location as Coleman Barney’s house.

Next, he talked about a meeting regarding the KJNP security detail we heard about on Thursday. A group of sovereign citizens from Anchorage, common law judge Dave Bartels, Dave Rohmer (the traffic stop guy from Thursday), Jeremy Baker, Mary Morgan, Schaeffer Cox, myself and Marti Cox were there. “But Marti wasn’t involved in the meeting – she was in and out of the room, taking care of babies. There was a couple others I don’t recall. I just seen them that one time.”

Skrocki asked about a matter involving the courthouse, and another security detail for Cox.

“The morning that was going to happen, Fairbanks had a terrible ice storm that shut everything down, so there was no courthouse.  The plan was to train for the security detail at the courthouse. While we were waiting for a couple guys to show for the courthouse event, everything was cancelled.

“Major Thesing… Ken Thesing was in charge of it. And there was a guy Jason… another militia member. And another one who got commissioned with me at the same time – he got stuck in the ditch, so we went and pulled him out. Ken Thesing found out the hearing had been cancelled, so we never ended up training.”

“Was there a discussion of what you would do at the courthouse?” asked Skrocki.

“We were going to meet at UAF. They’ve got a big set of concrete stairs outside. We were going to gather around, and 4 or 5 of us would lock arms around Ken who pretended to be Schaeffer. We were going to practice going up and down the stairs in a group. The state courthouse in downtown Fairbanks has stairs.

“We never actually did it, but Ken was telling us we were going to do it while we were waiting for a couple other guys to show up. We didn’t follow through with it. I did the exit team because the security detail involved packing, and assault weapons, and I couldn’t do that as a felon.”

It seemed sort of sweet that Olson sounded so sincere, and was following the law so scrupulously, in not carrying a firearm because he was a felon. Fear of breaking the law didn’t stop him from smuggling drugs, or a host of other things, but apparently this one was important to him.

“Did you attend another assembly of people involving Mr. Cox in Fairbanks?”

“Yes, an information meeting at the Carlson Center. It was about this sovereign citizen movement – giving information on the sovereign citizen Assembly Post. It was about how the AK court system is a fraud, and is scamming you in some way. We were supposed to put up posters and hand out flyers that Schaeffer had prepared for this event, because there was going to be a lot of people show up for this.”

A slide is shown of the flyer.

COURT FRAUD! THOUSANDS OF JUDGMENTS VOID!

The lawful courts of the judiciary appear to have been fraudulently displaced by a privately owned for-profit corporation deceptively named the “Alaska Court System.” This corporation and the Alaska Bar Association are under criminal investigation. If you have had a case decided without full disclosure of the true nature of the Alaska Court System, the damages can be corrected. Judgments can be overturned, and you may be entitled to restitution!

A public meeting to explain the process in simple laymen’s terms will be held at the Carlson Center on December 1 at 6:30pm. For more info please call 456-XXXX.

“The sovereign citizens from Anchorage and Schaeffer Cox put this together. These were stapled to telephone poles, and people were asked to hand them out to anyone they could,” explained Olson.

It says the court system is under criminal investigation. Was that the purpose of this group?

“That’s what I understood, yes.”

The next slide was the back of the page.

In Schaeffer Cox’s handwriting, a small notation at the top says, “Complete this form and bring it to the Dec 1 meeting. LEX REX.”  That last part is Latin for “The Law is King.” The rest of the form is printed out.

Common Law Complaint Form – Step 1

Name

email

Phone

Names of government agency, aggressors, etc.

Court Case #

I am interested in common law retrial Yes or No

Brief summary attached

Blank lines numbered 1-15

Please attach a copy of sworn complaint, police report , order, judgment, decree, other relevant documents.

For help call 456-xxxx (Identified by Olson as a Fairbanks land line) or 590-xxxx (Schaeffer Cox’s cell phone) or email AkCourtFraud@XXXXXXX.

“Did you attend this meeting?”

“Yes. I talked to Agent Sutherland. He didn’t task me to go to it. He said I could go if I wanted, as a private citizen, and he had no opinion one way or another. It was at the Carlson Center, which is like a big gymnasium. 40-50 people were there. I saw a couple complaint forms, because I saw a lady filling one out, and saw a man with one already filled out. Schaeffer was obviously leading it, but Judge Bartels spoke. He’s from Big Lake or Wasilla.”

“Was he a judge like Judge Bryan?”

“No.”

“No black robe?”

“No. A flannel shirt. Flannel shirt and blue jeans. It went on a long time. Everyone had a lot to say. People eventually started leaving so they wrapped it up.”

He was asked about another event he attended.

“I attended some kind of a status hearing for his weapons case that he had in the Fairbanks court. We had a whole bunch of people show up for it and attend it – 3 or 4 of us. Schaeffer had shown up at a place where the cops…(he corrects himself)… the Fairbanks police officers had been called to, and didn’t disclose he had a concealed weapon in his pocket. They arrested him for that.”

“Why were you attending?”

“We were told to observe and show support, I guess, as part of the militia. He had a bunch of us fill out common law sovereign citizen paperwork, and had us file it after the hearing.”

“Did you sign one?”

“I signed one of them. Coleman Barney did, Ken Thesing, …and I don’t recall if Lonnie Vernon did or not.”

The next little bit was fascinating, I thought. Olson described a project that Cox was involved in.

“He needed, wanted to take an inventory of all the weapons the militia members had, our personal weapons. I never gave it to him, and he never followed up.”

It seems to me that this would be the very thing that if the government or military tried to do, would be met with tremendous resistance. Taking an inventory of what weapons were personally owned by citizens?  It seemed a little ironic.  Olson went on to describe the guns he’s owned.

“Assault rifles, HK91, AK47, hunting rifles, 30.06, hand guns, 44 magnums. This was pre-felony conviction for me, of course.”

Skrocki asks Olson about another meeting. He says he can’t remember the details, and Skrocki asks if he wants to refresh his memory by looking at his 10-23. Then he asks Olson, who said yes, to explain to the jury what a 10-23 is.

“When we get done – after meeting up with these guys – I would get debriefed and Agent Sutherland would take it down, and put it in a form called a 1023.

Skrocki instructs Olson to refresh his memory by reading the form. “Read it yourself. Don’t talk about the contents, and let us know when you’re done.”

As he is reading, I notice that there seem to be more people here today to observe than usual. Coleman Barney’s row is full, plus some. Also, an older couple I have not seen before is sitting a few rows behind them. They look sad and anxious.

Olson is ready to start again.

“It was a conference call the National Assembly Post was having. Schaeffer invited me to sit in on it. Several people from around the US called in – a guy named Michael Donald, and several common law judges – Assembly Post judges. They had senators and Secretaries of State call in.”

“You mean for the Assembly Post.”

“Yes.”

“Not Hillary Clinton.”

“No, not Hillary Clinton.”

(I had an inevitable mind movie about how that would have gone, if Hillary Clinton had called in to the National Assembly Post meeting. Not well, I’m thinking.)

Next up was some “text traffic” between Schaeffer Cox via his iPhone, and Olson.

From Olson:

“I don’t think I’m qualified for security but I’d be glad to do exit.”

“Hey, Schaeffer, I apologize for not making it this afternoon. I was on my way out of the woods and had a flat tire and we didn’t have a jack so we had to walk back 3 miles to the job and get the skidder to life the truck up. I tried to call major Barney to let him know but got no answer. I hope all went well with your court hearing.”

From Cox:

“It was the most amazing event thus far. We totally rolled them on everything they didn’t even put up a fight. I told them I wasn’t coming back so the DA jumped up and said “he just said he’s not coming back! Arrest him right now.” Then I looked at the black robe and smiled like “ready when you are” and she RAN out of the room! Then we just walked out.”

From Olson:

“Wow praise god (…) I don’t believe they are just going to let it go. They have too much at stake to just roll over. Keep me informed and let me know what to do next to prepare.”

“Hey Schaeffer, I just talked to Coleman to see what was happening on Monday. I’m available to help out wherever I can, just let me know.”

From Cox:

“I’ll be in touch about that.”

From Olson:

“Hey Schaeffer. Happy New Year! Thanks for letting me sit in on that conference call the other day. It has inspired me even more than I was that what we are doing is right. It has also caused me to dig in and research even more, (…) assembly post that has a lot of useful info. Let me know if there’s anymore I can do or calls I can sit in on. Also thanks for being a leader, a lot of us are so busy that without someone like yourself leading us nothing would get done in this fight against tyranny.”

All these texts were in the days preparing for the infamous common law trial for Schaeffer Cox at Denny’s.

A “pre-meeting” was held at Denny’s in the restaurant area – a side room. 30-35 people attended. Schaeffer Cox was there, and so were Lonnie and Karen Vernon, Coleman Barney, Ken Thesing, Coleman’s mom and dad, and others. Cox was in charge of the meeting.

“It was planning for the trial – picking the jury.  The way I understood it was that the judge was already decided about what the outcome was going to be, and the meeting was just a bunch of sovereign citizen Assembly Post talk,” said Olson.

“Was there an opportunity for members of the State of Alaska to come forward during the trial?” asked Skrocki.

“They had issued subpoenas to the arresting officer, and the judges, and court officers involved in the official state case. Subpoenas to show up in common law court to deal with the weapons charge. They were going to re-hear his conviction that he’d plead guilty to, on a domestic violence case. That was heard too. It took 2-3 hours. The presiding judicial officer was Raymond Leo from Washington state, somewhere. He did not personally appear. He was on speaker phone.

“The common law trial was the next night. I was a juror. The actual trial was probably an hour and a half, but there was a bunch of logistical trouble getting the speakers and microphones and phone lines to work. So, start to finish it was probably 3 and a half to 4 hours.

“Schaeffer was refereeing, so to speak, what was going on. He was in charge as well, but Judge Raymond Leo was on the phone doing the official stuff. Schaeffer gave testimony and talked about the state cases against him, went through his version of the domestic violence conviction, and why it should be overturned, and about when he was arrested on the weapons charge for the trial that was coming up. He said he was carrying a 380 pistol and he’d carried it for six years in his pocket.

“The domestic violence matter was also heard. He gave his version of what happened in that case. He denied that it occurred. Mrs. Cox was not present, but called in on the phone and gave her version. She didn’t come because she had babies, or whatever, at home.

(“Babies, or whatever.” Love it.)

“There were 24 or 26 on the jury. I don’t recall the exact number but it was more than a 12 man jury.”

“Did you deliberate?” asked Skrocki.

“No, (he sort of shrugged) everyone pretty much knew how they were going to vote. He was found not guilty on both of them in the common law trial. There was a sign up sheet and then the jury sheet, the verdict sheet, I don’t know the technical term of what they called it.”

On the screen flashes a list of the jurors:

Joe Schwartz

Nicole Gagne

Kevin Bergman

Joshua Ryan Smith

Mark Gilmore

JR Olson

Wendell Harold

Adam Bijan

Coleman Lee (Coleman Barney)

Mae Lynn (Coleman’s mom)

Bill Lee (Coleman’s dad)

Lonnie Gene (Vernon)

Karen Louise (Vernon)

Ken Russell Thesing

Lynette Clark

Bill Rensel

Brad K. (Baker)

The prosecution asked why some of the people only signed using their first and middle names. I’d been wondering the same thing. Apparently, sovereign citizens are not supposed to sign their last names, just first and middle, according to Olson. He said he’d forgotten and signed his full name. This made me wonder if Judge Raymond Leo was only using his first and middle name.

Second page:

Lorna Marsh – scribe

JR Jerry Raymond. (Olson remembered to do the first and middle name only this time)

“As you understand it,” asked Skrocki, “what was the operative effect of this verdict form in the charges he plead guilty to in state court, and the pending charges?”

“The Common Law system trumped the Alaska Court System which was a fraud, it wasn’t legit. Because it was a common law verdict, nothing the Alaska Court System said was legit, and Schaeffer didn’t have to abide by it because he’d been found innocent in common law court.”

Then they showed a slide, which was a list of accusations:

• Perjury of oath
• Kidnapping a minister of foreign jurisdiction
• False arrest/imprisonment
• Assault on a foreign official
• Impersonating public official
• Abuse of proper due process
• Use of false info to obtain arrest
• Perjury under oath
• Excess of jurisdiction
• Conversion of a right to a crime
• Identity theft
• Theft of biological identifiers
• Enticement into slavery
• Involuntary signature
• Extortion
• Fictitious plaintiff
• Securities fraud
• Threat, duress and coercion with threat of felony dicnapping of a minor
• Impersonating a public judicial officer
• Enticement into making false statement
• Tampering and intimidation of a witness
• Acts of War under a declaration of peace
• Theft of personal chattel
• Trespass of Secured constitutional rights

These are the things with which the Common Law court charged the arresting officer, judges, and others. The paperwork was to be served and money was going to be sought. Olson thinks the total was $32 million, which agrees with the paperwork we’ve seen entered into evidence earlier in the trial.

“Cox was happy he’d been found innocent – relieved,” Olson said.

Then we were on to another interesting character in this whole affair. His name has been brought up a lot – Ken Thesing. Olson was asked to describe him for the jury.

“Ken Thesing is a middle-aged guy, I suppose, kind of balding, nice guy.”

“You saw his photo earlier,” said Skrocki. “He was wearing dark sunglasses.”

“He didn’t want the government to be able to scan his eyes through the newspaper photo.”

(Interesting, but here was something even more so.)

“Thesing is definitely a co-conspirator in this case,” said Skrocki firmly.

“He hasn’t been charged as such,” said defense counsel.

(Thoughtful pause)

“That’s a fair objection,” said the judge.

It really made me wonder why. Why isn’t Ken Thesing being charged with anything, if the prosecution so confidently refers to him as a co-conspirator?  And while we’re asking questions about witnesses, where is Bill Fulton, the other FBI informant? When the prosecution doesn’t call it’s own FBI informant as a witness, you’ve got to wonder why. We know that Michael Anderson testified in exchange for immunity. We know that JR Olson was an informant to get a lessened punishment for a crime he committed. But nobody has mentioned why Bill Fulton became an informant, or when. The defense can still call Fulton to the stand, I believe, but so far, we don’t know what will happen. There are many mysteries. But, back to Olson’s description of Ken Thesing…

“He lived in a school bus converted into a motor home. I met with him in the latter part of January or early February, 2011. He’s a Major in the Alaska Peacemakers Militia.” He was also a juror at the Denny’s trial.

“Are you familiar with the 2-4-1 plan?”

“Oh, yes.”

“When it was first announced, where was the meeting?”

“In the bus. He was there and participated in the conversation.”

“Is he a member of another sovereign citizen group?”

“Restore America’s Republic something… RUSA… ROAR I’ve heard several ways.”

“Were there firearms in the bus?” Skrocki went on.

“Yes, there was an SKS assault rifle hanging by the driver’s seat as you walked up the steps. It had a 30-round banana clip magazine, and another one flipped the other way, and taped to it, so you could flip it around real quick and have 30 more rounds.

I was there for 4 hours, maybe. It was quite a lengthy discussion. There’s two of these alternative government, or sovereign citizen groups I was aware of – RUSA and the Assembly Post. Schaeffer was involved with the Assembly Post because he’d gotten kicked out of the other one. Ken was with RUSA. So, Schaeffer was pushing Assembly Post, and Ken Thesing was pushing RUSA. The Assembly Post was guys that were disgruntled with RUSA so they started Assembly Post. Ken Thesing wanted to tout the benefits of RUSA vs. Assembly Post. I was interested in it.”

“When you were commissioned in August of 2010, what position did you have?”

“Private, I guess – I had one rivet.”

“Did you get a promotion?”

“Yes.”

“From whom?”

“Schaeffer Cox. There was a militia conference in Anchorage. All the leaders throughout the state were going to be there. It was held at the Millenium Hotel in Anchorage. In February, Schaeffer approached me and Ken Thesing and Coleman Barney, and we were all going to go. Plans changed when Coleman backed out for some reason. Something came up. Ken didn’t think it was wise to go. He said Schaeffer was starting to get…

Objection! Hearsay! (And we never hear what “Schaeffer was starting to get”…) Olson continued.

“Schaeffer said his wife had just had a little baby the night before or two nights before, so he wasn’t going to go. He was sending me. Ken couldn’t make it and Coleman couldn’t make it. He didn’t really want Lonnie going, so he sent two guys down – me and Lonnie, and I had to be moved up in rank to officially represent the group. So I was made a Sergeant. Lonnie was a Sergeant already.

“It was a planning convention for all the militias in the state to get together, and know each other, discuss new weapons and gear – stuff like that. I talked to Lonnie before we left, about how we’d get there. We discussed what weapons we should take for protection on the way there, and back. He knew I was promoted. Schaeffer had told him previously.”

Lonnie Vernon has seemed very engaged and alert during all of this. He’s been grimacing, grinning at times, and scribbling away on a pad. It’s the first time he’s really been the main focus of conversation.

“We removed a weapons cache we were cleaning out in North Pole. I talked about it with Lonnie Vernon. He told me that now that I’m a Sergeant, they’re going to have to show me where the weapons caches were. I seen one because we didn’t have to move it. The other one was at Lonnie’s house. There was another one supposedly up Chena Hot Springs Rd., but I never saw that one. I talked to Schaeffer with Lonnie present. He wanted us to pick up some grenade bodies, fuses, and C4 if we could get it.”

Afternoon break

We’re back from break, and the topic of inquiry is a meeting with Mr. Cox relating to going to Anchorage to attend a militia convention. I wonder what a militia convention must be like. This meeting was at Cox’s house, where Olson got his promotion to Sergeant in the Alaska Peacemakers Militia.

“Who is Bill Fulton?” Skrocki asks.

“He owned a military surplus store in Anchorage, and was a Class 3 gun dealer. Schaeffer brought it up. He was the one we were supposed to get in contact with, to get our hotel keys from. He was putting on the convention.”

There are technical difficulties, and we can’t hear the audio.

While we wait, I notice that we’re pretty much down to one hoodie on the jury – our alternate juror, who stepped up early on when one juror became ill and was unable to continue. We started out with four or five hoodies, and now all but one is looking much nicer.

“Times have changed,” Judge Bryan noted. “When I started out, there were no wires in the courtroom of any nature or kind. We didn’t have all this stuff, and we didn’t have to take breaks to find an expert to fix our stuff. But I’m sure this is all for the better.”

We get the audio back, and it’s Schaeffer Cox speaking. I’ll apologize right off the bat. Much of the audio sounds, as you would imagine, like someone talking into a pillow. The jury and judge, and counsel all have transcripts but we in the gallery do not. So, I’ll try to pick out as much as I can with the understanding that any errors are honest and unintentional.

“I’m going to call Bill Fulton and see if he can bring a laptop down there or something and Skype me in…”

Then Olson suggests a speaker phone, an idea Cox likes. Cox continues.

“Bill, he’s just a really brutish guy, and that’s OK… there’s a place for that (laughs) You just need to be aware of that. Bill was a real asshole (…) and called later and apologized. He respects me and admires me.”

“When he sobers up,” Olson added.

“He resonates with the masses. Norm Olson is that way.”

Skrocki asks who Norm Olson is.

“He’s the leader of the militia that’s down on the Kenai peninsula. He’s originally from Michigan. He was a member of the Michigan militia for years.”

The recording continues from a conversation at Schaeffer Cox’s kitchen table. The audio is garbled, and sometimes it’s not even clear who is speaking. You’ll have to imagine this like a conversation you’re overhearing from two rooms away. I typed what I could make out, but wasn’t even sure who was speaking most of the time. This is more to set the mood of things, rather than to be accurate. Best I could do.

Regular pineapple grenades have an 8 second fuse. CS and smoke have a 2 second fuse. I know where a person could get launchers. I’ve got a bunch.

What about on an AK?

Are you an AK man?

Oh, yeah.

I’ve been kind of stocking up. Whenever there’s a good deal I get some even though I don’t need it, I pass it on to the next guy who wasn’t there for the deal.

I don’t like dealing with the internet. I like dealing with someone face to face.

If you can get pineapple grenades…

He said he’d make us some C4 and that Silly Putty … and I said how much. I don’t know – hundred bucks maybe. It would be good to have. And just vacuum seal them right up.

What do you need that for? Who knows? I don’t know! Why do you have a gun on your night stand?  I have a few from my old biker connections down in Anchorage.

Phone rings. It sounds like a really old phone, the kind that actually rang. Kind of nostalgic.  More mixed up conversation…

“Everyone’s been situating for a long time. We could look him up. I talked to him about six months ago and he still had about 30 M16s left. They’re stamped. They don’t say AR15, they say M16. He’s got access to other stuff too. He has some kind of connection. He’s not military but someone he knows… that kind of deal. And he said oh yeah, we’re squirreling stuff away. Wen it goes down we won’t have a shortage of munitions.”

Skrocki asks about putting a fuse in grenade body and “tapping” and asks Olson to explain what that means to the jury. Often, Skrocki would ask questions of Olson based on something that was obviously in the tape, that I wasn’t able to hear.

“If you have a smooth hole that doesn’t have threads in it, you can take a tap and it creates threads so you can screw a bolt in there.”

“You discussed the duration of fuses. Is this the first time you talked about it?”

“Yes. I don’t recall anything before that.”

“Cox talked about a source for C4? What is that?”

“It’s a pliable explosive from what I understand.”

“Prior to this meeting with Lonnie Vernon and Cox, was there a discussion about C4?”

“Yes.”

“Hand grenades? How to make them operational?”

“Yes.”

Olson went on to say what he’d discussed with Agent Sutherland. That’s the agent with whom Olson would debrief, receive instructions, and who was his go-to guy at the FBI.

“Agent Sutherland had told me that if there was any opportunity that they expressed interest in illegal weapons of any kind, to let them know I had a source that could get them.”

“He didn’t seem interested in the M16s.”

“No.”

“Did that subject come up again later?”

“Yes.”

“Was Lonnie Vernon there?”

“Yes. We’d moved from the kitchen into the entryway/mudroom when you come into the house. Lonnie and I loaded up in a vehicle and headed to Anchroage.

It was a Ford Expedition, provided by the FBI, by special agent Sutherland.”

“In the audio, there was a refernce to a phone.”

“I believe it was me asking Schaeffer, because he’d taken my cell phone and hid it, and I was asking where it was.”

“When did Mr. Cox take your phone?” asked Skrocki.

“When we moved into the entryway to start talking about grenades.”

“What kind of phone was it?”

“An iPhone. He put it in a snow boot that was in the entryway before the conversation started. I got it back when I asked him where my phone was. I don’t remember exactly, but before I left I obviously got it back.

“We got in the Expedition and headed to Anchorage. I rented it in my name and then 2 or 3 days before, agent Sutherland took it and wired it all up. There was sound for sure, and I’m not sure about video. It was just us two on the ride to Anchorage.”

“During the ride did you have conversations about explosives and silencers?”

“Yes.

Then a completely inaudible conversation, except for this:

I’m with you we need to get… We need to build some bombs. Coleman… oh really. They’re into this. They take microwaves and use them to… make laser… ammunition and then …all your radios, all your electronics… stack ‘em up in the garage outside… seen at the dump, they’re perfect… you can put batteries in them, radios, alternators, anything we’re going to need.

“Mr. Vernon mentioned there’s a kid that works for Coleman, that’s all they do is build bombs with laser-guided rockets. Did you ever find out who that kid was?”

“No.”

Olson described the trip to Anchorage.

“It was 4.5 or 5 hours to Anchorage. We went directly to the Drop Zone. We pulled into the back of the store and went to walk in. Neither of us knew who Bill Fulton was. We’d never seen him before. There were 2 guys out back, each smoking a cigarette. He was one of those guys.

“We walked up to them, and asked for Bill Fulton. ‘We’re Schaeffer’s guys coming down from Fairbanks.’ He was surprised because he didn’t know Schaeffer wasn’t coming. The first thing Lonnie said was, ‘We’re here to get some grenades! We want some grenades!’ Fulton was surprised and upset. He made a big deal of it right through the weekend. ‘We didn’t know who he was and the first thing out of their mouths were I want grenades!’

“He had everything in the store, camping, hunting, military surplus, knives, boots, ex-military type stuff. I don’t recall any guns in the store. He is a Class 3 dealer – there’s a regular bolt action, and semi-auto, but Class 3 can sell fully auto stuff and explosives. I had heard he was. I guess I don’t know for a fact if it’s true of not.

“We bought a couple camo jackets and trinket stuff, maybe a couple pairs of gloves. I do remember getting some ex-military multi-cam jackets. We saw Fulton later that evening in the bar over at the Milennium Hotel. We had dinner and a couple of beers.”

“Did the subject of a machine gun come up?”

Another almost inaudible recording in the restaurant of the Milennium Hotel of Bill Bulton, Lonnie Vernon, and JR Olson.

“Isnt that horrible? (sarcastic) I’m just gonna miss my wife sooo much tonight. (Laughter) Nice. Thank you Miss. (to the waitress)

“Do you know Aaron Bennett?”

“I met him that weekend, that night towards the end of dinner. Him and his militia guys showed up. I’d heard him on the radio a bunch in Fairbanks, but never met him.  He was speaking about 2^nd Amendment gun issues, those same kind of issues. He had a similar store to what Bill Fulton had – a military surplus store and a gun store. Bill Fulton sold him a lot of his supplies. His store was Far North Tactical. As a side business he did bail enforcer stuff, going out and getting people who jumped bail… what’s that called?”

“I can’t tell you,” said Skrocki.

“He’s a younger guy, relatively speaking . He’s about 30, very arrogant and cocky, always running his mouth. We talked at dinner … it turned more into an argument between Lonnie and Aaron discussing sovereign citizen, Assembly Post issues. Aaron didn’t see it that way, he didn’t believe in the sovereign citizen way. It was a heated screaming match pretty much. Lonnie had worked for Aaron’s brother, so they knew each other from before. They didn’t mix well at all.”

“What was Aaron Bennet’s opinion of Mr. Cox or his militia?”

“He did not like him, his militia, or his beliefs. And he made no qualms about that he didn’t like him. It started at dinner and went on the whole weekend.

“While I was in Anchorage, I had to meet up with an FBI agent – the plan was to meet up, do a debrief, and change up recorders. I told Lonnie I was going to meet up with my source for the weapons – the M16s and the others. The one I referred to in the conversation before… I told him I was meeting with him but Lonnie wanted to come along, because he didn’t want to be around Aaron Bennett or Bill Fulton.

“I was to meet with Special Agent Patrick Westerhouse. Agent Sutherland stayed in Fairbanks. I was supposed to call him when I left the motel. He was in the area so we were going to meet up. When Lonnie came along, I obviously couldn’t plan the meeting, so I told Lonnie that the guys’s (sic) place was an apartment complex. I knew of an apartment complex, and I parked and told Lonnie I had to go myself, so he stayed in the truck. I said I couldn’t bring a guy he didn’t know, and talk about illegal weapons. I went in and called Westerhouse who came and picked me up, we did the debrief, and he brought me back. Lonnie was in the car with the motor running, so it was warm.”

Another muffled audio recording from later that night.

“It was impressive. I got to watch it work… a couple magazines through it… you’re not going to let me have that? What the fuck? You’re not going to make mine full auto? You’re going to sell me one that is. He won’t even help me. I heard we were buying six pieces and putting them together. We were going to have our own weapons… of mass destruction.”

“Are you familiar with an HK91?”

“Yes, I used to own one. Lonnie was asking Aaron for a good battle rifle, and mentioning that. Apparently, Mr. Bennett says you’ll have to buy that on paper because he’s a gun dealer. You have to fill out paperwork.”

“What was that about buying six pieces, grinding off the numbers, and ‘having our own weapons of mass destruction?’” asked Skrocki.

“There was lots of discussions about bombs and explosives and different things. We’d heard about the automatic weapon at dinner, but I hadn’t heard about buying separate parts and grinding off numbers before.”

“How long were you out?”

“An hour – an hour and 15 minutes…”

Another taped conversation. This one is snippets of Lonnie Vernon talking about not being taken by the feds.

They seem half crazy and these are the guys that get you in trouble. I’m gonna be settin’ there with a pistol on my side, I’m gonna put my belt on, and… I’m not going to be cornered into no horseshit. I don’t care about… I’m serious. I’m not gonna be cornered into horseshit. I’m not putting out any ideas. I know what I gotta do. We have to get like-minded people together and wake up the resistance. Bankers and shit can go to hell. Right on the edge of what the fuck do we do. That’s sad. That’s really sad.

We have to jump ahead to exhibit 10, Skrocki says. They misnumbered one of the exhibits. While this is happening, I notice that Lonnie Vernon is still very alert. He’s drinking water from a foam cup, and sloshing it around like Listerine.

Another recording, in which we learn that Bill Fulton has a giant potty mouth. This was recorded in Fulton’s hotel room after they’d been drinking.

Other than that it doesn’t go any further. You can put all the Constitutional arguments out there, but when you’re all done….from Alaska and that’s the way I am. Last time Schaeffer walked into my shop. That was it you know. But there’s a level of trust just knowin’ who you know. There’s a level of trust there. I have any way with you. And not everyone in this area I would have trust with.  

I notice that every time the word “trust” is spoken by Fulton (the FBI informant), the woman behind me that I hadn’t seen until today makes a noise – kind of like a cross between a Pfft and a Harrumph. I assume she is here for one of the defendants.

I can come up with some stuff. I can come up with other things and how to put it together. We used to play with shit too, all kinds of things you can come up with . I appreciate not being asked. I kind of wondered about that. Hey, I met you for five minutes…can I buy pineapple grenades? Kool-Aid? (Laughs.) I’m the easiest guy in the world. I don’t like… We weren’t even in the door yet. We weren’t. (laughter). I know one of those lawyers… the three clicks… you got one of them on the shelf there? (Laughter) ‘This is my brother Bob, and my other brother Bob. They’re not government! Don’t worry about them!’ I’m sitting there with my brain going, ‘What? Where’s Bill? I’m Bill! Who are you? Where are the pineapple grenades? Hook us up!’ Fucking dick. (Laughter) I want some of them. This is five seconds after you asked me. Do you mind?

I was told to ask you. That was the recommendation.

Oh, jeez… I love you but Jesus Christ, you’re fucked up. To me it sounded pretty fucked up. I’m goin’ like hey… Click click. Who is this guy?  What a dick! Then Aaron comes down… Here’s what gets me, the little red-headed prick comes down. And there’s another one who (…) The little red head. Do you actually know you’re FBI, guy? Why don’t I just pull thins thing off the shelf with a hatchet… it’s making me feel safe. Now we’re talking about fucking up the FBI guys. They’re doin’ it to themselves.”

The entire clip was full of breathless laughter, like a group of guys on a weekend away who had too much to drink… which is of course exactly what it was. Lonnie Vernon looked like he might laugh a couple times, despite being the brunt of the never-ending “We want some grenades!” jokes. But, the row of people there for Coleman Barney didn’t take it as well. Once the profanity-laced diatribe (of which I only captured a portion) began, they started to look uncomfortable. I noticed because they were sinking lower and lower in their seats, then turning all kinds of shades of red, and finally his wife, and another woman next to her literally put their fingers in their ears trying to escape.

 

(Incorporated into my eerily lifelike courtroom sketch, I have some visually metaphoric “F-bombs.”  Yes, I went there. We must maintain our ability to laugh in all situations.)

Skrocki asks Olson to talk about what we’ve just heard.

“There was a lot of discussion about Lonnie hitting up Mr. Fulton for grenades right off the bat.”

“Bill Fulton was upset, and Lonnie Vernon admits he did that on the audio?”

“Yes.”

“Had you been drinking?”

“A few.”

“How much?”

“1 or 2 at dinner, and after meeting with the FBI, I had 2 or 3 more, and I’m not a big drinker so that’s all I could handle. The rest were drinking a lot. Lonnie Vernon, Bill Fulton, and Aaron Bennett had been in and out of Fulton’s room. People were coming in and out, it was kind of a party atmosphere.”

“Lonnie Vernon described 2 Agents. Had you met one of those agents? Both?”

“Yes.”

“He described one as being a redhead. Had you met that agent?”

“Yes.”

“What color was his hair?”

“Red.”

The next bit of audio again occurs in Bill Fulton’s room. Olson, the FBI informant, had no idea that Fulton was also an FBI informant. This conversation includes Aaron Bennett of Far North Tactical, Lonnie Vernon, Bill Fulton, and JR Olson. Again, I’m not certain at all times who is speaking, and I was unable to understand and get complete bits of the conversation.

“Do you have any fuses left, Aaron?”

“Did you know that the ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) outlawed them?”

“I have 160 but I’m not selling. I don’t’ have any stock. And you know I can’t even get ‘em.”

“Neither can we.”

“How many you need? I can’t give you 50. There ain’t no goddam way. I have 150 for myself. How many you need? Be serious.”

“They’re into the laser shit with microwaves.”

“Is that like sharks with lasers on their heads? That’s what we need is sharks with lasers on their heads!” (laughs at own joke)

“We want to pick up a few pineapples, make ‘em (musical?)

“Ten minutes after you meet someone is not the time to ask for grenades.”

“Now that they’re banned, we need to be careful.”

“If you transfer ‘em you’re fucked.”

At this point, there is lots of talking simultaneously over each other, and I don’t know how anyone heard a thing. They all seemed to be wanting to hear themselves talk, and weren’t interested in what the other guy had to say. The video showed the back of Bill Fulton. He was wearing a black jacket that said: “We Do Bad Things to Bad People” and then the name of the store.

(Yes, we will now have visuals of certain exhibits from the trial!)

The audio went on.

“Do you pay your fucking income tax?”

“That’s up for debate.”

“I understand we gotta watch it. When did they do that?”

“A few months ago. Long enough that they’re restricted.”

“It’s like your pants are pulled down, and you’re like, ‘Hey that’s my butt, and they’re like, ‘No that’s our butt!’ (…)

“…That’s why I said, don’t be an asshole! Fucker. You brought her… bitch!”

More squirming in the gallery. The woman who “Pffffffed” has her head in her hands.

“This conversation in Bill Fulton’s hotel room, when did it happen?” Skrocki asked.

“Later that evening, after we got back. Mr. Bennett said he had 160 grenade fuses.”

“Why wouldn’t he give you any?”

“He wanted to keep them for himself, the ones he had. He no longer could order them because they were illegal.”

“He said he wanted to ‘pick a few pineapples and make them usable?’”

(Aha! Not ‘musical’ as I had thought. Although musical grenades would be kind of fun.)

“Bill Fulton referenced that they had to be careful tomorrow?

“Yes. That was the convention day when everyone would be getting together and having meetings.”

“ A 1500 meter sniper rifle, do you know what that would be?

“A 50 caliber.”

Next is a discussion between Olson, Vernon and Fulton about machine guns.

“What do you want gunwise?”

“I’d love to have an auto, I found a guy that had a pair of twins from Vietnam, but he wanted 7500 bucks for both of them. I just want something that works. I know some day I’m gonna need it.”

“Were all gonna need it.”

“This weekend you don’t know how many Feds were here. When you’re talking this fucking stupid shit… you gotta be careful.  You were talking full auto. What you need to understand is when we’re in public, at least this weekend, keep your fucking mouth shut. You don’t need any of that bullshit, because they’ll crawl up your ass.”

“They can’t go busting your door in on hearsay.”

“They’re Homeland Security, they can do whatever the fuck they want!”

“He’s into the 3s and the 91s… Shut the fuck up!”

“Three fuckin’ parts. If you swap out three parts… You can order the …, the bolt and the chargin’ fuckin’ piston, and that’s it. That’s some sweet shit. The fact that it’s that easy, means it’s that easy for some fuckin’ asshole to talk about this shit. This is not you, me, and Aaron. This is you, me, and 50 people we don’t know.”

(Lots of distressed people staring at the floor)

“I’m not gonna be like ‘I just met you today, I want a fucking suppressor!’ Douche. Don’t be a douche bag!” I just want you to look at it from my perspective.  I met you four hours ago. Don’t ask me for suppressors.”

“I want it for a reason.”

“We all want it for a fucking reason! It’s between you and me. You didn’t fucking get it from me. Just send me the thread twist, and there’s no way to trace it back. It takes about a month to make it. There’s a lot of engineering that goes into them and I don’t want to fucking know.”

Coleman Barney’s people look like they’re being tortured. Some are staring at the ceiling. Behind them and next to me, another woman is drumming fingers on the chair. The woman behind her has interlaced fingers, with her forehead in her palms, rocking back and forth rhythmically.

“It’s one of those statements you don’t expect to hear coming out of their mouth.”

“That’s how down home we are. You know this is not new to me because…”

“I’m not saying it is. I’m just saying let it float tonight. You don’t need to bring everything up at once. Just let it fucking float.”

Skrocki asks, “When he whispers ‘suppressors,’ what is he referring to?”

“Silencers – suppressors.”

“What firearm?”

“I believe he said SIG.

“He was advised by Bill Fulton to be careful?”

“Yes.”

“In that conversation, Lonnie Vernon expressed knowledge of how to make a silencer?”

“Yes he did.”

Back to audio.

“What’s the deal on the surpressors. You want some for shits & giggles?”

“You know that’s a whole other ration of shit.”

“There’s a spot for ‘em you know. I have a spot for ‘em.”

“There’s also a spot in the federal pen for ‘em.”

“That’s why they go in a hole and they stay away.”

In the frame of the video are a couple bottles of liquor I can’t identify and a couple hotel water glasses.

Vernon is visible in the frame before Bill Fulton puts down the glasses. Fulton always has his back to the camera.

“With respect to the militia convention itself, did you attend?” Skrocki asks.

“Yes we did. Lonnie and I. It started at 9 in the morning. Lonnie and I got there at the same time, Norm Olson and other militia guys from around the state were there. Norm Olson talked. Everyone from each militia made a little speech. Schaeffer made one on the speaker phone. It was 20 minutes long, probably.

Time for a break.

The judge talked a little, before the jurors left. I like his little interludes. “I caught up on my local paper,” he said, “and I ran into an article about jurors being too inquisitive for their own good. And it talked about this age of electronics. We’ve got cell phones and laptops and e-readers and it has put the world at jurors’ fingertips. Some of them just can’t understand why they can’t Tweet, blog, or use Google.

“There have been a number of cases where mistrials have been declared because jurors have not followed instructions. Everyone in a trial has a right to hear all of the evidence, and respond as they think appropriate – that’s called due process of law. So, if you are out doing stuff on the internet, or getting other information, the people in the courtroom don’t have an opportunity to respond to that. So don’t discuss the case, or read anything about it. Don’t do any independent research of any kind during breaks.”

And with that, I am off and will return tomorrow for more.

 

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