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Army veteran pleads guilty in Fort Stewart militia case

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 00:04:00 +0000

  Another former soldier has pleaded guilty for his role in an anti-government militia authorities say is responsible for the execution-style murder of two teenagers in the Georgia woods in late 2011.

Timothy Joiner, a 22-year-old Iraq War veteran, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Liberty County, Ga., to more than 30 charges of burglary, financial-transaction-card thefts, and violations of the Georgia Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act among other crimes, according to the Associated Press.

The AP quoted the lead prosecutor in the case, Isabel Pauley, as saying Joiner’s crime wave was an attempt to raise enough money to bail another member of the militia out of jail. Joiner was arrested before that could happen.

“Delusionally dangerous” Alaska militia leader gets 26 years

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 19:55:00 +0000

Alaska Peacemaker Militia founder and gun-rights advocate Francis Schaeffer Cox — described by federal investigators as a “delusionally dangerous man” — will serve almost 26 years in federal prison, despite his show of last-minute contrition.

The 28-year-old defendant, who became a modern-day poster boy of sorts for the militia movement, was convicted by an Alaska jury last June of nine federal charges – seven of them illegal firearms counts — related to a conspiracy to kill a judge and law enforcement officers. He was acquitted of charges of carrying a handgun while conspiring to purchase destructive devices and possession of a handgun while discussing the murder conspiracy.

“Well, I, uh, I put myself here, with my words,” Cox told the court yesterday before he was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robert Bryan, the Anchorage Daily News reported in today’s editions.

Libyan president targets rogue militias

Sun, 23 Sep 2012 15:16:00 +0000

BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — Libya's president has ordered the disbandment of "illegitimate" militias, a move designed to assert state authority amid violence by armed groups including an assault on the U.S. Consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi that killed the U.S. ambassador.

In the late Saturday news conference, President Mohammed el-Megaref said a joint operations room in Benghazi will coordinate between the various authorized militia brigades and the army. He said others operating outside the "legitimacy of the state" are to be disbanded.

The decision came amid growing public anger at armed factions and Islamic extremists, resulting in the storming of some of their compounds by protesters.

But in the absence of strong security forces, the government relies on some militias to keep order.