CLEVELAND, Ga.,None — Four North Georgia men accused of plotting terror attacks against civilians and the government remain in jail. Federal agents charged Fred Thomas, Dan Roberts, Ray Adams and Sam Crump with attempting to obtain weapons. They said that the four men plotted to spread the deadly toxin ricin along Atlanta interstates to kill civilians.
Channel 2's Richard Elliot went by the 73-year-old Thomas' home in a narrow mountain hollow near Cleveland to see if his wife wanted to talk about the charges. She did not.
"I have no comment whatsoever," said Charlotte Thomas.
Elliot did speak with one of Thomas' neighbors. David Pomianowski said Thomas, a Navy veteran, was a nice guy who seemed too frail to attack anyone.
"He smoked menthols," said Pomianowski. "Didn't look like he was in that extremely healthy of a shape to be walking around. Thirty years in the Navy, but I mean, he's hobbling around really bad."
Elliot did look at two articles Thomas wrote for the website Redstate.com. In one dated December 2008 that was critical of both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, he wrote, "I do not advocate a general rebellion against the U.S. Government for cause. I am not an anarchist." He also wrote, "Do I think a civil conflagration of enormous proportions of a rebellion is in our near future? Nah! Americans are a bunch of sheep."
But in June 2009, Thomas wrote another article stating, "Remember this, too! We outnumber them by 50-1. We ARE armed to the teeth, and they're afraid of us."
In their criminal complaint, federal agents said they recorded Thomas saying, "Civilian government operatives is who we're going to be shooting at: IRS, ATF, FBI and the cops. I could shoot at ATF and IRS all day long."
Elliot also looked at tax liens filed by the IRS against suspect Dan Roberts. Records show the IRS placed two liens on Roberts in 2010 for more than $7,500.
All four men are scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Gainesville next Wednesday. A judge could grant bond then.
http://bcove.me/s5srh3oq
WSBTV
