North Georgia Men Who Plotted to Purchase Explosives and Silencers Sentenced to Prison

GAINESVILLE, GA—Frederick Thomas, 73, of Cleveland, Georgia; and Dan Roberts, 68, of Toccoa, Georgia, were sentenced today by United States District Judge Richard W. Story to federal prison on charges of conspiring to obtain an unregistered explosive device and silencer.

United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said, “These defendants didn’t just talk about killing government officials and law enforcement officers, they purchased equipment, including a silencer and what they thought were explosive devices, to carry out their plans. Now they will spend five years in prison.”

Brian D. Lamkin, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta Field Office, stated, “The FBI’s number one priority is to prevent another terrorist attack, irrespective of whether that attack or plot to attack originates from an international group or a domestic one. The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) here in Atlanta, along with its many and varied agency partners, after gathering actionable intelligence regarding this domestic based threat, launched a comprehensive criminal investigation to dismantle and disrupt this threat before an attack could occur and did so while remaining within the rule of law.”

Thomas was sentenced to five years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Thomas was convicted of these charges on April 10, 2012, upon his plea of guilty.

Roberts was sentenced to five years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Roberts was convicted of these charges on April 10, 2012, upon his plea of guilty.

According to United States Attorney Yates, the charges, and other information presented in court: defendants Thomas and Roberts were members of a known militia organization who sought to form what they referred to as a “covert group” that would plan and execute armed attacks on government buildings and federal employees including law enforcement agents. The firearms the defendants sought to obtain were to be used in those attacks.

In March and April 2011, the defendants met with each other and others to discuss the formation of the self-described “covert group,” its purposes, and their need to acquire weapons, ammunition, food, and survival gear.

Defendant Thomas discussed overt and covert operations for the group, stating that he had compiled what he called a “Bucket List,” which is a list of government employees, politicians, corporate leaders, and members of the media that needed to be “taken out” to “make the country right again.” Defendant Thomas further described the need for the group to acquire more weapons, ammunition, food, and survival gear and the need to establish a silent means of performing assassinations. To this end, defendant Thomas suggested silencers for handguns, stating, “In order to do what we want to do, take out the right people, we have to have some silent means of doing it. That means suppressors on handguns.” Defendant Thomas talked about his “Bucket List” of people he thought should be killed. Defendant Thomas further said that he thought they could “fight off a SWAT team” and that “I’ve been to war, and I’ve taken life before, and I can do it again.”

Defendant Thomas also made the following statements during the meetings:

■“The right people have to be taken down and taken down soon.”

■“There is no way for us, as militiamen, to save this country, to save Georgia, without doing something that’s highly, highly illegal. Murder. That’s f***ing illegal, but it’s gotta be done.”

■“When it comes time to saving the Constitution, that means some people gotta die.”

Defendant Thomas wished for the group to start taking action on some of their previously discussed plans, including a number of assassinations on various government officials. Defendant Thomas explained that he intended to model their actions on the plot of an online novel called “Absolved.” The plot of “Absolved” involves small groups of citizens attacking United States federal law enforcement representatives and federal judges. Defendant Thomas said that the covert group should conduct a number of assassinations on various government officials, and he particularly expressed a desire to kill Department of Justice and Internal Revenue Service employees. He also provided those in attendance at the meeting a list of IRS office addresses.

During the same meeting, Thomas also made the following statements:

■“Civilian government operatives is who we’re going to be shooting at: IRS, ATF, FBI, and the cops.”

■“Who is the primary topics, targets? DOJ. Everybody in DOJ. That includes judges, ATF, IRS, and the hierarchy thereof.”

■“I could shoot ATF and IRS all day long.”

On April 30, 2011, defendant Thomas met with an individual he believed could obtain weapons for the covert group, including explosives. This individual is an active duty military employee who reported the activities of the covert group to military personnel after growing concerned about a potential attack. During a recorded meeting with this individual, defendant Thomas provided a handwritten list of 28 items including firearms, silencers, and explosives and asked the individual to obtain them for the group. Defendant Thomas told the individual that the covert group was looking for ways to conduct assassinations.

On May 24, 2011, defendant Thomas and a confidential source drove from north Georgia to Atlanta and conducted surveillance of the ATF and IRS buildings in Atlanta. During recorded conversations in conjunction with the surveillance of these buildings, Thomas discussed weapons the covert group wanted to acquire illegally, plans for additional surveillance inside the buildings, and methods of attacking the buildings with explosives.

On June 9, 2011, defendants Thomas and Roberts met with an undercover agent to discuss the purchase of silencers and explosives. Both defendants stated that they had specific targets in mind and defendant Thomas informed the undercover agent that they had already conducted surveillance of the targets. Defendant Thomas explained that the covert group was planning to carry out the actions of the main characters from the book “Absolved” and, like the main character in the book, defendant Thomas considered himself to be expendable at his age and was prepared to die if necessary. At one point during the meeting, defendant Thomas also said, “We know what we wanna do. We know how to do it. But we need [unintelligible] prepared to do it, so that’s what we’re doing now....Making the preparations, getting what we need so that when we go about doing it; we are equipped. Don’t know when that’s gonna be; within a year, I’m sure.”

On November 1, 2011, defendants Thomas and Roberts met with the undercover agent, gave him a sum of United States currency and a firearm, and took possession of a silencer for an M4 assault rifle and conversion parts to make the rifle fully automatic and what they believed were C-4 plastic explosives. During the meeting, the undercover agent explained to defendants Thomas and Roberts how to operate the explosives. During the recorded transaction, defendant Thomas said, “Now, I’m gonna want two more suppressors, one for a pistol and one for a rifle,” and defendant Roberts said, “The way my finances, finances are, I got, uh, it comes and goes, I’m only gonna be able to take one [silencer] at a time, probably.” Agents then arrested both defendants.

This case was investigated by the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), which includes agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Federal Protective Service (FPS), Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), and Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).

Assistant United States Attorney Jeffrey A. Brown prosecuted the case.