Heya, MW reader! Here’s the monthly roundup for September 2024, featuring stories on the following:
- Former Virginia militia member pleads guilty to poison charges
- III% leader sentenced & Oath Keepers lawyer pleads guilty for J6 roles
- Alabama militia leader pleads guilty to charges related to horse buying
And here’s last month’s update for your reference:
Former Kekoas Member Pleads Guilty
On August 21, Russell Richardson Vane IV pleaded guilty to charges against him related to his activities alongside the Virginia Kekoas and in the wake of his removal from the group by the militias’ leadership. His guilty plea revolves around his possession of ricin, through which he admitted using castor beans to create the poison in his home.
This is a continuation of earlier reporting collected in previous MW Monthlies, but mostly a follow-up from April 2024. In April, a lot happened:
- Kekoas announced they kicked out Vane, who used the callsign “Duke” with the network
- The FBI raided his home and found materials gathered seemingly to make a poison
- A judge ordered that Vane must remain jailed pending trial
Vane was involved with the Kekoas long before they kicked him out. He marched with the group in Richmond for the VCDL’s annual Lobby Day this past January. He also joined Mike Dunn’s August 2023 armed mobilization over arrests of militia members in Gloucester previously.
J6 Updates
On August 28, US District Court Judge Dabney L. Friedrich sentenced Daniel Edwin Wilson to five years in prison for his role in the riot at the US Capitol Building on J6. Wilson was part of a III% group called the Grey Ghost Partisan Rangers and he was also an Oath Keeper. He used the name “Live Wire” for communications with these militia groups on Telegram. The Department of Justice reported his involvement on Zello under the same callsign. While it’s unclear if he’s the same “Livewire”, someone using the account name “LivewireNFC” led an American Patriots III% channel on Zello before the march, too.
Kelly SoRelle pleaded guilty to charges against her related to her involvement surrounding J6, namely tampering with evidence by telling Oath Keepers to (illegally) delete their text messages after the attack. SoRelle worked as the Oath Keepers’ lawyer previously.
Other Stories
On August 16, the Burrillville Democratic Town Committee wrote a letter in a local paper responding to a ”gun sanctuary” resolution by the Burrillville Town Council. In the letter, they accused the Rhode Island town council of misrepresenting statistics to rationalize an extreme position. Similar resolutions have been justified by creating a “town militia”, which rarely comes to fruition but often intersects or enthuses nearby Patriot Movement actors.
On August 15, the Department of Justice announced that Joshua Colson had been sentenced to 4 years of prison time for illegal possession of several firearms, as he is a convicted felon. Colson, who lived in Mississippi but was arrested in Georgia, was a leader of the National Constitutional Militia. With the NCM, he and his comrades planned to kidnap or attack elected officials on Thanksgiving in 2022 but the plan fizzled. FBI agents arrested Colson in Fitzgerald, Georgia, where he was attempting to purchase a horse in preparation for going “off the grid”. Colson pleaded guilty in October 2023, as covered in a previous MW Monthly.
Further Reading
- Joshua Kaplan writes for ProPublica covering the American Patriots III% movement, describing the group’s turbulent history and future plans