ATF: Alabamians plotted to machine-gun Mexicans
Judge denies bond for 5 in militia arsenal case; agent testifies about attack plan
By Jay Reeves
Associated Press Writer
BIRMINGHAM — Five members of a self-styled militia were denied bond Tuesday after a federal agent testified they planned a machine-gun attack on Mexicans, but a judge approved bond for a sixth man accused of having weapons and explosives components in his home.
Law enforcement authorities, meanwhile, fanned out looking for additional munitions that could be linked to the group.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Armstrong said he could not grant bond to the five because of the agent's testimony and the large amount of weapons — including about 200 homemade hand grenades — that were seized in raids in Northeast Alabama on Friday.
"I'm going to be worried if I let these individuals go at this time," he said.
Adam Nesmith, an agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, testified that the five — Raymond Kirk Dillard, 46; Adam Lynn Cunningham, 41; Bonnell Hughes, 57; Randall Garrett Cole, 22; and James Ray McElroy, 20 — planned an attack on Mexicans in Remlap, a small town just north of Birmingham, and actually went there on a reconnaissance mission April 20, but he provided no other details.
Nesmith said Dillard told a confidential informant that the group, which calls itself the Alabama Free Militia, viewed government agents as "the enemy" and had a standing order to open fire if anyone saw government agents approaching.
Armstrong said bond was denied Dillard because he already was a fugitive after failing to report for probation on a weapons case out of Mobile.
The judge approved a $10,000 bond for the sixth defendant, 30-year-old Michael Wayne Bobo, at a later hearing. Bobo, who was kept in custody at least until Wednesday, was charged with being a drug user in possession of a firearm. The other five were charged with conspiring to make a firearm.
ATF agent Larry Alt testified that investigators who searched Bobo's home found two rooms loaded with guns and possible explosives components, including fireworks, ball bearings, primers, mouse traps, light bulbs and fertilizer. The man lived in two upstairs rooms in his parents' home in Trusville, Alt testified.
Bobby Bobo, the defendant's father, said he "knew about some of the things, and I was concerned." But he said he was less worried after a relative in the Army looked at the cache and said there was nothing illegal.
Testimony showed that agents had secretly made recordings of the younger Bobo meeting with Dillard and McElroy in April and talking about illegal immigrants, anti-government leanings and weapons. But there was no direct mention of Bobo being in the Free Militia, evidence showed.
Attorneys for the five did not directly address the charges during the hearing.
In questioning Nesmith, however, they did attempt to show that their clients were not directly linked to all of the weapons seized.
Authorities said agents during the raids last week recovered 130 homemade hand grenades, a grenade launcher, about 70 hand grenades rigged to be fired from a rifle, a machine gun, a short-barrel shotgun and 2,500 rounds of ammunition in the raids.
A lawyer for Dillard, Scott Boudreaux, has said the case had been overblown by authorities. He said his client began stockpiling items partly because of the scare of the Y2K computer glitch in 2000.
The six appeared in court as DeKalb County sheriff's deputies and federal agents searching for explosives returned to a rural area in Northeast Alabama near Collinsville, where authorities arrested some of the militia members last week and seized weapons.
Stanna Guice, a spokeswoman for the sheriff's department, said authorities received information that explosives could be hidden in a cave in the area, so officers on foot and on horseback converged in a field and worked outward to search for any possible cache.
ATF agent David Hyche said specialists were being brought in to assist with the search because of the size of the cave.
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