04.23.12
The plight of the Georgia Ricin Beans Gang
A piece from a small Georgia newspaper shows the plight of one of the old white cranks swept up in the FBI’s domestic terror case.
For the past ten years the FBI has had an extensive network of criminal informants. In Tim Weiner’s history of the FBI, Enemies, it is revealed the agency’s counter-terror operation employed a communications program, an illegal one, called Stellar Wind.
Stellar Wind essentially monitored all communications in the US and it is reasonable to assume the FBI continues to do so. And when such a program detects the chat of some cranky old white guy going on about the desecration of the Constitution by the US government, and the need for it to be violently stopped, on some crap website for the like-minded, it enlists a local informant to massage the targets.
The Toccoa Record interviews the wife of Dan Roberts, a member of the Georgia Ricin Beans Gang who has already entered a plea to a reduced charge of conspiracy in the case, and readers see how it works:
“Because of this “Tink??? (a confidential informant used by the federal government in building the case against Roberts and the three other defendants), I don’t know his name, but he’s the one that should be in jail. He made threats all along – he made actual threats against Dan at Shoney’s in Lavonia.???
Calling the charges against her husband a “set up??? by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Margaret Roberts said the two confidential informants initiated and orchestrated the actions that led to the foursome’s arrest, and were financed and enabled by the FBI.
“As far as Dan, he did not pay any money for any sort of silencer or anything, the money came from the FBI,??? Margaret said.
“Joe Sims, the informant, had the money. Every bit of this was set up and paid for by the FBI. It’s just been unbelievable to me,??? she said.
Saying that the only time her husband has been in trouble with the law was when he borrowed his brother’s car without insurance, Margaret Roberts added that she had supported Roberts’ decision to plead guilty instead of sitting and waiting two or more years for a trial date.
“I insisted that Dan do it (accept the plea agreement); he may be dead in two years sitting there waiting on a trial for something he never even should have been in jail for,??? she said.
“If you’re guilty of this stuff it’s bad enough, but when you’re set up, and set up by the government, this has all just been a nightmare, an absolute nightmare,??? she said.
Motivated by the need to save face and not look bad in the public eye, the FBI and federal government pursued charges against four old men who posed no threat, Margaret added.
“I think they (the FBI) got started on this stuff, believing in Joe Sims and his lies, and then they don’t want to look bad,??? she said. “If the FBI had not furnished the money and all of this, none of this would have ever happened.???
Roberts’ involvement in militia activities was limited to first aid, and other survivalist training, Margaret said …”
“About the ricin, that’s the most outlandish thing I’ve ever heard in my life,??? she added. “Dan knew nothing about that,??? Margaret said, insisting that it was Sims who approached defendant Crump regarding ricin production, not Roberts.
The government is beginning to ‘waive a white flag,’ according to Margaret, who said she and Roberts’ attorney are now expecting the terrorism enhancement charges to be dropped.
“Who in the world would have thought the FBI would do us up like this,??? she said.
Weiner’s Enemies concedes the dragnet constructed for the war on terror netted a lot of patsies and fit-ups, in the book’s case — Muslims.
However, it has often been a similar case for many busted on domestic terror charges. The charges exceed the actual nature of the threat.
And sometimes there is very little threat at all.