GAINESVILLE, Ga (Reuters) ? Four Georgia men accused of plotting to buy explosives and produce a deadly biological toxin to attack U.S. government officials will be held without bail until at least next week, a judge ruled on Wednesday.
The men, who the Justice Department said were members of a domestic fringe militia group, were brought into court in handcuffs and leg chains for their first appearance in federal court in Gainesville after being arrested on Tuesday.
Frederick Thomas, 73, Dan Roberts, 67, Ray H. Adams, 65, and Samuel J. Crump, 68, requested and were granted court-appointed attorneys to defend them on the charges.
Authorities in court records accused Thomas, identified as the group's ringleader, of including judges among prospective targets, but all four men were polite with U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Cole during the hearing, answering her questions with "yes ma'am."
Prosecutors gave few clues as to what they think may have motivated the men. Federal authorities have said an undercover operation had allowed them to disrupt the men's plans before they posed an imminent threat to the public.
Authorities had been monitoring the group for months with the help of a confidential informant, who recorded conversations about the men's plans to carry out attacks against federal buildings and employees.
Court records detail the content of those recordings, starting with a March meeting at the Cleveland, Georgia, home of Thomas, who described himself as the leader of the fringe group.
The recordings showed Thomas said the group should acquire more weapons, ammunition, food and survival gear and needed a silent way of taking people out, court records said.
"The right people have to be taken down, and taken down soon," he told the group, according to court documents.
"I've been to war, and I've taken life before, and I can do it again," he said at a later meeting.
Thomas said he wanted to kill employees of agencies including the FBI, Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service and, in May, he drove with the informant to Atlanta to scout out federal buildings for possible attacks.
"There's two schools of thought on this: Go for the feds or go for the locals. And I'm inclined to consider both," Thomas said during the trip, according to authorities.
During that same trip, he was cited as saying the group should shoot people "that we discover are anti-American or enemies of America, treasonous."
Thomas told an undercover agent the group would likely carry out its plans within a year, court documents said.
Adams and Crump were also accused of attempting to produce ricin, a deadly biological toxin made from castor beans and other ingredients.
Crump said he wanted to make 10 pounds of ricin and put it out in synchronized attacks on multiple cities, including Washington, Newark, Atlanta and New Orleans. Adams was accused of giving Crump a castor bean last month, and both men expressed knowledge about how to make ricin, authorities said.
Prosecutors indicated they would seek to keep the men in custody for the duration of the case in a bond hearing scheduled for next week.
A group of the men's supporters declined comment after Wednesday's hearing, as did the prosecutor and public defender.
(Reporting by Alan Sverdlik; Writing by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Jerry Norton and Cynthia Johnston)
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