23-year-old man from Austin, Texas, Bradley Neil Crowder, who made seized Molotov cocktails was connected to a group that planned to disrupt the Republican National Convention (RNC) in September 2008, was sentenced today in federal court to possessing destructive devices. FBI alleged that t he intended to torch a parking lot full of police cars.
*Sources
False Allegations of Terrorism - Food Not Bombs
https://www.foodnotbombs.net/terrorism_allegations.html
Efforts to paint Food Not Bombs as a violent terrorist group started in ernest. .... "FBI Reports:"Food Not Bombs" Affinity Group Plan Protest with Possible Use of Slingshots. .... The three joined other Austinactivists in a van trip to the convention.
The F.B.I. and local police held press conferences eight months before the 2008 Republican and Democratic National Conventions. They told the media that Food Not Bombs had planned activities before the 2004 conventions and were going to be involved in the 2008 protests. The Rocky Mountain News and Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that the police knew that Food Not Bombs was planning to collect and use feces against the police and delegates at the conventions. What Food Not Bombs didn't know was that the F.B.I. started infiltration the Denver and Minneapolis chapters several months before the press conferences. Fifty one year old Ramsey County Sheriff 's Department Narcotics Officer Marilyn Hedstrom "Norma Jean Johnson " started to volunteer with the local Minneapolis chapter a year before the National Convention. She seemed to be very interested in dumpster diving for the group. Her "niece " Rachel Nieting, or "Amanda Clara " or on occasions " Amanda Amey " came along. She was working for Ramsey County Department of Corrections. Chris Dugger also started to volunteer with Minneapolis Food Not Bombs. He was a Ramsey County Confidential Reliable Informant. A fourth infiltrator was Andrew Darst or "Andy, " "Panda, "or "Pandy " and had the online names of Warchyld and Killswitch. Andy was a Federal Confidential Reliable Informant.
These informants participated in Minneapolis Food Not Bombs meetings to organize the RNC welcoming Committee. Minneapolis Food Not Bombs planned to provide food to the protesters outside the convention center and help organize housing for people coming from other communities. The infiltrators suggested things like fire bombing the delegates buses. The National Republican Party provide $50 million to cover expenses. Minneapolis Food Not Bombs chapter started organizing a year before the convention. The infiltrators joined them at their meetings where they made plans to provide meals, housing and city maps to the people coming to protest the policies of the Republican Party. Several infiltrators "joked " about fire bombing the Republican delegates buses and other acts of violence during the RNC Welcoming Committee meetings. The request for warrants on the Food Not Bombs cook house used the infiltrator's "jokes " about the fire bombings and other acts of violence as evidence Food Not Bombs was an threat. On August 29, 2008 Joanne M. Smith, Judge of Ramsey County District Court signed the warrants for raids on the Food Not Bombs cook houses. Hundreds of swat police, F.B. I. Homeland Security and Ramsey County Sheriff Department officers raided the three Food Not Bombs cook houses at 8:00 in the morning of August 30, 2008 the day before the convention was scheduled to start. Eight Food Not Bombs cooks, Eryn Trimmer, Monica Bicking, Luce Guillen Givins, Max Specktor, Nathanael Secor, Erik Oseland, Robert Czernik and Garrett Fitzgerald were charged under the Patriot Act as terrorists. Eryn Trimmer was introduced to Food Not Bombs when he was just 13 years old living with Food Not Bombs co-founder C.T. Lawrence Butler in Maryland for most of his teenage years.
The infiltration required to silence protest at the Republican National Convention were not limited to the Minneapolis area. Long time Food Not Bombs activist Brendon Darby was also working for the F.B.I. He was busy trying to get two new activists to help him make fire bombs that they could use in Minneapolis. Brendon Darby was a Food Not Bombs contact person at Common Grounds in New Orleans after Katrina. In Austin, Texas he spent months trying to encouraged 22 year old David McKay and Bradley Crowder who was 23 to take make Molotov cocktails to the RNC to use against the cops. The three joined other Austin activists in a van trip to the convention. The cops pulled the van over. McKay and Crowder were arrested for disorderly conduct. McKay was released later that day but Bradley Crowder remained in jail. Darby made out to be very upset at the "illegal arrest " of his "friends " in the van. Darby egged McKay on about fire bombing the police. MaKay didn't know Darby was recording their conversation The partial transcript in the affidavit, Brendon Darby asked David McKay, "What if there's a cop sleeping in the car?" "He 'll wake up, "replied McKay. Bottles were also found at the house where they were staying. The F.B. I. claimed they were going to be used as Molotov cocktails. In 2010 David McKay was facing 30 years in prison. The authorities would not take such drastic actions and spend so much money if they did not believe Food Not Bombs was effective.
Remember This? Liberal Terror Attack on 2008 GOP Convention ...
https://townhall.com/.../remember-this-liberal-terror-attack-on-2008-gop-convention-t...
Jan 10, 2011 - Darby worked with he FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and infiltrated the liberal Austin Affinity Group. This organization, as we revealed in the ...
EXCLUSIVE: Radical Awakening: From America Hater to Hero - Breitbart
www.breitbart.com/big.../exclusive-radical-awakening-from-america-hater-to-hero/
Apr 13, 2010 - He consorted with eco-terrorist tree-spikers, radical feminists and black ... infiltrated a leftwing group known as the Austin Affinity Group.
From the April 2010 issue of Townhall magazine: Brandon Darby learned something from Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela. Once a hard-core radical who sided with progressive revolutionaries, Darby prevented a left-wing terrorist attack on the 2008 GOP convention. Now, this America-loving patriot is the target of the domestic extremists he once called “friends.” Did you know that a courageous former radical helped to avert a planned left-wing terrorist attack at the 2008 Republican National Convention that might have killed who knows how many Americans?
That’s because if you disrupt a terrorist attack on Americans by Islamic fundamentalists as Northwest Flight 253 passenger Jasper Schuringa did on Christmas Day, you’re a hero; however, if you take the initiative to undermine a terrorist attack on Americans by supposedly well intentioned left-wing fundamentalists, you might as well be a terrorist yourself.
How a Radical Leftist Became the FBI's BFF | Mother Jones To many on the left, Brandon Darby was a hero. To federal agents consumed with busting anarchist terror cells, he was the perfect snitch.
www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/08/brandon-darby-anarchist-fbi-terrorism
To federal agents consumed with busting anarchist terror cells, he was the perfect ... then the FBI official in charge of domestic terrorism, ranked groups like the ... By 2002, Darby had found his way toAustin's slacker scene, where one day he ...
St. Paul was their first large-scale protest, and when they arrived they were taken aback: Rubber bullets, flash-bang grenades, tumbling tear-gas canisters—to McKay and Crowder, it seemed like an all-out war on democracy. They wanted to fight back, even going so far as to mix up a batch of Molotov cocktails. Just before dawn on the day of Palin's big coming out, a SWAT team working with federal agents raided their crash pad, seized the Molotovs, and arrested McKay, alleging that he intended to torch a parking lot full of police cars.
Since only a few people knew about the firebombs, fellow activists speculated that someone close to McKay and Crowder must have tipped off the feds. Back in Texas, flyers soon began appearing at coffeehouses urging leftists to beware of Brandon Darby, an "FBI informant rat loose in Austin."
The allegation came as a shocker; Darby was a known and trusted member of the left-wing protest crowd.
FBI — Texas Man Sentenced on Firearms Charges Connected to the ...
https://www.fbi.gov/minneapolis/press-releases/2009/mp052109a.htm
May 21, 2009 - Following a FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation, McKay was ... of the Austin Affinity Group traveled from Austin, Texas, to Minnesota.
The Lessons of St. Paul | Stratfor
https://www.stratfor.com/weekly/lessons_st_paul
Sep 10, 2008 - 5, two men from Austin, Texas, were charged in U.S. District Court in ... of Flint, Mich., was arrested by agents from the Joint Terrorism Task Force at a ... The affinity groups, which are in effect autonomous cells, were then ...
Firebomb idea wasn't his, defendant in RNC case says – Twin Cities
www.twincities.com/2009/01/28/firebomb-idea-wasnt-his-defendant-in-rnc-case-says/
Jan 28, 2009 - ... Bradley Neil Crowder, made the Molotov cocktails while staying in a fellow ... 3 after the St. Paul police SWAT team raided the apartment he'd ...Texas man accused of making eight Molotov cocktails during the Republican National Convention testified Wednesday that the government informant who infiltrated his activist group came up with the idea to build the firebombs. informant, Brandon Darby, had mentioned the possibility of building the devices and that because Darby was an older, more experienced and nationally known activist, he greatly influenced the 23-year-old McKay.
How a Radical Leftist Became the FBI's BFF | Mother Jones
www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/08/brandon-darby-anarchist-fbi-terrorism
The same thing might have been said of David McKay and Bradley Crowder, ... Just before dawn on the day of Palin's big coming out, a SWAT team working with ... seized the Molotovs, and arrested McKay, alleging that he intended to torch a ...
FBI — Austin, Texas Man Sentenced for Possessing Molotov Cocktails ...
https://www.fbi.gov/minneapolis/press-releases/2009/mp051409.htm
May 14, 2009 - Austin, Texas Man Sentenced for Possessing Molotov Cocktails During the ... United States District Court Chief Judge Michael Davis sentenced Bradley Neal Crowder to 24 ... St. Paul Policeseized these shields on Aug. 31.Austin, Texas Man Sentenced for Possessing Molotov Cocktails During the Republican National Convention
U.S. Attorney’s Office
May 14, 2009
District of Minnesota
(612) 664-5600
A 23-year-old man from Austin, Texas, who was connected to a group that planned to disrupt the Republican National Convention (RNC) in September 2008, was sentenced today in federal court to possessing destructive devices.
On May 14 in Minneapolis, United States District Court Chief Judge Michael Davis sentenced Bradley Neal Crowder to 24 months in prison and three years of supervised release on one count of possession of a destructive device. Crowder was indicted on Sept. 22, 2008, and pleaded guilty on Jan. 8, 2009.
“This case is part of a two-year effort with the U.S. Secret Service, along with our state and local partners, to identify and address threats to the 2008 Republican National Convention,” said Ralph Boelter, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Minneapolis Field Office. “Threatening life and property in the name of a perceived cause is reprehensible regardless of the ideological influence that motivates the attackers.”
According to Crowder’s plea agreement, he admitted that between Aug. 31 and Sept. 3, 2008, he knowingly possessed and manufactured eight Molotov cocktails, not registered to him or anyone else in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.
Crowder was indicted along with a second defendant, David Guy McKay, 22, Austin, Texas. Following a mistrial in February, McKay pleaded guilty to three firearms charges on March 17, and is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Davis on May 21.
According to trial testimony, the FBI in Texas began investigating the group, labeled by law enforcement as the Austin Affinity Group, in February 2008. McKay and Crowder were members of the group.
On Aug. 28, Crowder and other members of the Austin Affinity Group traveled from Austin, Texas, to Minnesota. The group brought a rental trailer with them that contained 35 riot shields, made from stolen traffic barrels. The intended use of the shields was to help demonstrators block streets near the Xcel Energy Center in order to prevent convention delegates from safely reaching the convention. St. Paul Police seized these shields on Aug. 31.
According to trial testimony, McKay and Crowder angered by the loss of the shields, purchased supplies for constructing Molotov cocktails at a St. Paul Wal-Mart on Aug. 31, including a gas can, motor oil and tampons. They also purchased gasoline at a gas station. They then manufactured the eight Molotov cocktails at an apartment on Dayton Avenue where they were staying.
During a FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation, authorities learned through an informant that McKay and Crowder had manufactured the Molotov cocktails. Crowder was arrested on Sept. 1 for disorderly conduct during an RNC demonstration.
During a conversation overheard by law enforcement through electronic surveillance on Sept. 2, McKay told an informant that he intended to throw the Molotov cocktails at police vehicles parked in a lot near the Dayton Avenue apartment. The parking lot was used as a checkpoint area for vehicles entering the security perimeter around the convention site. It was visibly patrolled by the U.S. Secret Service, various police agencies and the military.
During the execution of a search warrant by the St. Paul Police Department at the Dayton Avenue residence where McKay was staying when he was arrested, officers seized a variety of items, including gas masks, slingshots, helmets and knee pads. Under the kitchen sink, officers discovered a two-gallon gasoline container identical to the one purchased by Crowder and McKay at the Wal-Mart on Aug. 31. In the basement of the residence, officers found eight assembled Molotov cocktails. They consisted of bottles filled with gasoline with an attached wick made from tampons.
This case was the result of an investigation by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, which includes in addition to the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office, the Secret Service and the St. Paul Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeffrey S. Paulsen and W. Anders Folk.
This content has been reproduced from its original source.
Entrapped - Texas Monthly
www.texasmonthly.com/articles/entrapped/
He and a group of friends, including 23-year-old Austinite Brad Crowder, traveled to St. Paul in ... McKay was arrested on September 3 after a police raid on a local apartment yielded eight Molotov cocktails that he and Crowder had made.
Weekly Featured Profile – Brad Crowder
Submitted by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton on March 3, 2017
Brad Crowder is a leader of the Austin Socialist Collective, the Austin, Texas branch of Socialist Alternative, an organization “dedicated to the advancement of socialist, independent working-class politics.”
In September 2008, as the Republican Party kicked off its national convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, David McKay and Bradley Crowder, a pair of activists from Midland, Texas traveled to the city.
St. Paul was their first large-scale protest, “and when they arrived they were taken aback: Rubber bullets, flash-bang grenades, tumbling tear-gas canisters—to McKay and Crowder, it seemed like an all-out war on democracy. They wanted to fight back, even going so far as to mix up a batch of Molotov cocktails.”
Just before dawn on the day of Sarah Palin’s big coming out speech, a SWAT team working with federal agents raided their crash pad, seized the Molotovs and arrested McKay, alleging that he intended to torch a parking lot full of police cars.
After taking a plea bargain, Crowder was sentenced to two years in federal prison.
On Aug. 28, Crowder and other members of the Austin Affinity Group traveled from Austin, Texas, to Minnesota. The group brought a rental trailer with them that contained 35 riot shields, made from stolen traffic barrels. The intended use of the shields was to help demonstrators block streets near the Xcel Energy Center in order to prevent convention delegates from safely reaching the convention. St. Paul Police seized these shields on Aug. 31.
According to trial testimony, McKay and Crowder angered by the loss of the shields, purchased supplies for constructing Molotov cocktails at a St. Paul Wal-Mart on Aug. 31, including a gas can, motor oil and tampons. They also purchased gasoline at a gas station. They then manufactured the eight Molotov cocktails at an apartment on Dayton Avenue where they were staying.
During a FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation, authorities learned through an informant that McKay and Crowder had manufactured the Molotov cocktails. Crowder was arrested on Sept. 1 for disorderly conduct during an RNC demonstration.
During a conversation overheard by law enforcement through electronic surveillance on Sept. 2, McKay told an informant that he intended to throw the Molotov cocktails at police vehicles parked in a lot near the Dayton Avenue apartment. The parking lot was used as a checkpoint area for vehicles entering the security perimeter around the convention site. It was visibly patrolled by the U.S. Secret Service, various police agencies and the military.
During the execution of a search warrant by the St. Paul Police Department at the Dayton Avenue residence where McKay was staying when he was arrested, officers seized a variety of items, including gas masks, slingshots, helmets and knee pads. Under the kitchen sink, officers discovered a two-gallon gasoline container identical to the one purchased by Crowder and McKay at the Wal-Mart on Aug. 31. In the basement of the residence, officers found eight assembled Molotov cocktails. They consisted of bottles filled with gasoline with an attached wick made from tampons.
This case was the result of an investigation by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, which includes in addition to the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office, the Secret Service and the St. Paul Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeffrey S. Paulsen and W. Anders Folk.
This content has been reproduced from its original source.
Entrapped - Texas Monthly
www.texasmonthly.com/articles/entrapped/
He and a group of friends, including 23-year-old Austinite Brad Crowder, traveled to St. Paul in ... McKay was arrested on September 3 after a police raid on a local apartment yielded eight Molotov cocktails that he and Crowder had made.
Weekly Featured Profile – Brad Crowder
Submitted by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton on March 3, 2017
Brad Crowder is a leader of the Austin Socialist Collective, the Austin, Texas branch of Socialist Alternative, an organization “dedicated to the advancement of socialist, independent working-class politics.”
In September 2008, as the Republican Party kicked off its national convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, David McKay and Bradley Crowder, a pair of activists from Midland, Texas traveled to the city.
St. Paul was their first large-scale protest, “and when they arrived they were taken aback: Rubber bullets, flash-bang grenades, tumbling tear-gas canisters—to McKay and Crowder, it seemed like an all-out war on democracy. They wanted to fight back, even going so far as to mix up a batch of Molotov cocktails.”
Just before dawn on the day of Sarah Palin’s big coming out speech, a SWAT team working with federal agents raided their crash pad, seized the Molotovs and arrested McKay, alleging that he intended to torch a parking lot full of police cars.
After taking a plea bargain, Crowder was sentenced to two years in federal prison.
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