-Daniel aka Obsidian
How federal agents foiled a murderous Jade Helm 15
retaliation plot
The Washington Post
Abby Phillip 8/5/2015
©
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP A convoy of National Guard troops
moves on Camp Swift, which is also hosting the Operation Jade Helm 15 military
exercise, in Bastrop,
Texas, on July 15. The men had a
deadly plot to lure government forces into a trap, federal officials say, and
were amassing a stockpile fit for war. There were Kevlar helmets and body
armor, pipe bombs and handmade grenades, large amounts of gunpowder and dozens
of rounds of ammunition for a military-grade sniper rifle.
Federal officials say three North
Carolina men — Walter Eugene Litteral, 50; Christopher James Barker, 41; and
Christopher Todd Campbell, 30 — spent months compiling their cache, much of it
purchased through a military surplus store owner who became so concerned about
the plot that the person became the FBI’s informant. The men were arrested Saturday and
charged with conspiracy and amassing weaponry allegedly to combat what they
believe is the government’s plan to impose martial law through (among other
things) the controversial multi-state military exercise known as Jade Helm.
In January, the informant relocated
the military surplus store to Gaston County, N.C. — a location that was just a
few doors down from where Campbell operated a tattoo parlor. Almost immediately, Campbell told
the informant of his “anti-government” views, according to federal court
documents.
A month later, Campbell introduced
the informant to Litteral. The two men told the informant that they believed
“that the federal government intended to use the armed forces to impose martial
law in the United States, which they and others would resist with violent
force,” the court documents said. Specifically, they told the
informant that the Jade Helm exercises planned in five states were a cover for
the government’s plot to impose martial law. The exercises were scheduled to be
conducted from July 15 to Sept. 15, and Litteral made it clear that he needed
the military-grade items no later than the 15th of July.
Operation Jade Helm 15,
a training exercise for Army Special Operations Forces, has spawned
consternation and anti-government conspiracy theories. The exercises are taking
place in Texas, along with Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado, according to the Army. By April, months before the training
operation was scheduled, the purchases from the military surplus
store began — all of them paid for in cash, according to court
documents. There were plans, the documents
allege, to make pipe bombs, explosive tennis balls covered in nails and coffee
cans filled with ball bearings that would be detonated with a shot from a
sniper rifle.
And by mid-June, those plans were
beginning to crystallize.
According to the documents, Litteral
was heavily armed with both legally and illegally obtained weapons. If
government agents came looking for him at his home, Litteral allegedly told the
informant in a phone conversation, he would be ready. “Lemme tell you something, I gonna
have my f——- house rigged up; these motherf—— come try to come in my house,
it’s gonna go off,” he said, according to the documents.
The documents indicated that
Litteral told another person in a phone conversation: “I got a f—— .45 beside
my bed. I got a .45 and a 9-mil in my truck. I’ve got a 9-mil and a .380, or a
.380 in her car. Safe full of weapons. You know what? Every time I open up this
damn safe, I mean I’ve got, I’ve got at least 30 weapons that I can see and
some tucked all the way in the back back.”
The plan involved testing the
explosives on land in Shelby, N.C. But the ambush against U.S. forces
would take place on Litteral and Campbell’s a 99-acre camp in Clover, S.C. “According to [Campbell], he and
Litteral intend to booby-trap the camp and draw government’s forces into the
camp and kill them,” the warrant states. On June 30, according to documents,
Campbell told the informant that he feared that the government would soon
declare martial law, saying: “S— is gonna go down soon.”
In mid-July, Litteral attempted to
buy a rifle for Barker, the third arrestee named in the conspiracy. Barker had
been convicted of a felony and would not have been permitted to purchase a
weapon.
But the purchase at the gun store
was held up, first by a required three-day background check. Unbeknownst to
Litteral, it was then held up even longer at the FBI’s request.
In a conversation on July 29,
according to the documents, Litteral told Campbell that the delay infuriated
him:
LITTERAL: “it would be good for trip but like I was telling
him with the pipe bombs I’m making we need a fuse we need a fuse because these
things if we put one here we’re gone.” Three days later, federal agents
made a move, raiding two homes along with Campbell’s tattoo parlor and
ultimately arresting all three of the men.
The men now face charges of
conspiracy to violate laws governing firearms and explosive devices, which
carry a prison sentence of up to five years and a $250,000 fine. Campbell
separately faces an additional charge of receiving, possessing or making a
firearm —which by definition includes a destructive device — which carries a
maximum penalty of up to 10 years and a $10,000 fine, according to the FBI.
Here the 3 places raided by FBI over weekend — 2 homes, 1
tattoo parlor. All within 4 miles apart. 3 men arrested
pic.twitter.com/BRhN5ZLXxy
