LAT posted:

5 men charged in plot to bomb Ohio bridge on May Day
Federal officials said there was never any danger to the public because officers had been watching the group for months and the explosives were nonoperational and always under the control of federal officials.

By Michael Muskal
Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — The five men who called themselves anarchists were preparing to commemorate May Day, the international workers holiday, by taking violent political action. They planted what they thought were demolition charges on a bridge crossing the Cuyahoga Valley National Park south of downtown Cleveland and drove to a spot several miles away. There, they punched in the code that they thought would detonate the explosives, federal officials allege.

But nothing happened.

Instead, law-enforcement officers from a variety of agencies including the FBI arrested the five Monday night, charging them with conspiracy and trying to bomb property used in interstate commerce. The five appeared in federal court in Cleveland on Tuesday and were ordered jailed without bail.

There was never any danger to the public, federal officials said. According to the complaint filed with the court, officers had been watching the group for months. The explosives were nonoperational and always under the control of federal officials.

The Cleveland group was not connected to any international terrorist group, a concern on the anniversary of the U.S. raid that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden a year ago in Pakistan, officials said.

However, the suspects were connected to the Occupy Cleveland movement, though the group is not mentioned by name in the complaint. Some of the suspects had attended an Occupy demonstration Oct. 21 on Cleveland's Public Square, but federal officials and Occupy spokesmen minimized that tie.

According to the complaint filed with the court, a "confidential human source" met one of the suspects and some of his associates at the October demonstration. The suspect, identified as Doug Wright, 26, described himself as an anarchist and complained about Occupy's unwillingness to take violent action. The confidential informant is described in court papers as having a criminal record and is on probation but was paid earlier for services and expenses, according to the complaint.

In addition to Wright, Brandon L. Baxter, 20, and Anthony Hayne, 35, were arrested Monday evening by members of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force. Also arrested were Connor C. Stevens, 20, and Joshua S. Stafford, 23, the government said.

According to the court documents, the five wanted to take action that would clearly be seen as against the "1 percent," those blamed for running the United States for their own benefit, rather than for the remaining 99 percent of the country.

Originally, the group had planned to use smoke grenades to distract law enforcement so that co-conspirators could topple signs for financial institutions atop high-rise buildings in downtown Cleveland, according to the complaint.

But the planning escalated to include explosive materials, the government alleges. The defendants conspired to obtain C-4 explosives for use in two improvised explosive devices, according to investigators.

The group discussed various targets in the Cleveland metropolitan area before picking the Route 82 Brecksville-Northfield High Level Bridge. The bridge goes from Brecksville to Sagamore Hills, over the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, according to the complaint.

PYF parts of the criminal complaint:
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/05/01-4

Affidavit posted:

27. During this meeting WRIGHT and BAXTER talked about getting the 'Anarchist Cookbook' but that they have not downloaded it because they do not want to be tracked on-line. The group then talked about a computer program you can buy for fifteen dollars a month that keeps people from tracking you on the Internet. They discussed using pre-paid debit cards or anonymous online accounts that use alternate currencies as a proxy for real dollars like "bitcoin" accounts to buy the program without leaving a traceable financial trail. BAXTER explained that he has a friend who is a hacker and can transfer paper money to bitcoins. He stated that you need some proxy to do it and both BAXTER and WRIGHT tried to explain how the bitcoin system works.

babyfinland posted:

Ironicwarcriminal posted:

i'm really having trouble placing their ideology on the spectrum. I guess assange-loving Matrix cyber-anarchist type stuff, i dunno, weird.

Either way if this is true these guys are lame, that's a cool bridge

Marxism-420ism

Haha, tbqh I see more Matrixism than Marxism to be honest.

Although maybe I’m wrong and they’re trying to emulate Stalin and his cronies.

Cleveland ain’t Batumi though lol.

AmericanNazbro posted:

thank u for keeping us safe, fbi

Aren't you in like Chile or something? Sorry but they're definitely not keeping you safe

tpaine posted:

Meursault posted:

AmericanNazbro posted:

thank u for keeping us safe, fbi

Aren't you in like Chile or something? Sorry but they're definitely not keeping you safe

that's maggotmaster you're thinking of. Though i can see why you'd get the two confused, given that their posting is so similar.

thats giving my posting too much credit