Officials in Georgia target bail fund in crackdown on ‘Cop City’ protests

Atlanta police officers and agents from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation this week swarmed into a home that has long been known in the city as a center of activism.

Three people were arrested inside, charged with money laundering and charitable fraud for expenses related to the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, which has posted bail and provided legal support to protesters battling plans for a new police and fire training complex widely publicized under the derisive nickname: “Police City.”

Civil liberties groups and some elected officials have condemned the allegations as blatant retaliation for legal protests. The arrests have ignited an already tense situation: For months, law enforcement officials have cracked down on protests against the training center.

Kamau Franklin, an Atlanta community organizer, said Friday opponents of the center saw the latest arrests as part of a larger effort to quell protests and scare would-be activists into getting involved in social justice movements. “We are in perilous times,” he said. “Law enforcement is now attacking the infrastructure of organizational and movement politics.”

But officials argued the arrests reflected something much more sinister: “These criminals have facilitated and encouraged domestic terrorism,” said Georgia Governor Brian Kemp.

The allegations should be seen as a strong reminder that “we will hunt down every member of a criminal organization, from violent foot soldiers to their indifferent leaders,” Mr Kemp said in a statement on Wednesday. “We will not rest until they are arrested, tried and punished.”

The conflicting reactions to the allegations are an extension of a wider rift in Atlanta between opponents and supporters of the planned police complex, as an attempt to halt construction of the training center amid a 400-acre swath of urban forest land that escalated into violent clashes . in the woods, leading to the fatal shooting of an activist and domestic terrorism allegations against many protesters.

The three people arrested – Marlon Kautz, 39; Savannah Patterson, 30; and Adele MacLean, 42 – appeared in court for the first time on Friday. Bail for each was set at $15,000. But Judge James Altman expressed some skepticism about the state’s case. “I don’t think it’s really impressive,” he told prosecutors at the hearing, adding that “there’s not much meat on the bones of thousands of dollars going to illegal activities.”

The three have been charged, according to arrest warrants, with defrauding donors by spending money in support of Defend the Atlanta Forest, a group blamed by local authorities for arson and vandalism of buildings and heavy equipment during protests, and of throwing Molotov cocktails, stones and fireworks at uniformed police officers.

The warrants listed specific repayments to the three of Mr. Kautz’s charitable trust, registered as the Network for Strong Communities, which manages the Atlanta Solidarity Fund: $298.54 to Mr. Kautz for mesh communications equipment to monitor the forest, $ 115.80 to Mrs. Patterson for camping supplies and $29.72 to Mrs. McLean for a safe purchased from Amazon, among other things.

Authorities also noted that $48,000 was transferred from the Network for Strong Communities to another organization, which then returned the money.

At the hearing, prosecutors said the defendants’ work may seem lawful and even commendable, but their money had helped fund destructive acts, including violent protests related to the training facility and the vandalism of Ebenezer Baptist Church, the legendary congregation in Atlanta led by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Raphael Warnock.

John Fowler, a deputy attorney general, also said they “harbor extremist anti-government and anti-establishment views”. (The case is being pursued by the Georgia Attorney General’s Office and the District Attorney for DeKalb County.)

But Donald Samuel, a lawyer for the three defendants, said they had done nothing wrong. “The idea that the Solidarity Fund should somehow be responsible for anything that crosses the line strikes me as incredibly unfair,” he said on Friday.

The Atlanta Solidarity Fund, the group the three are associated with, said it saw the charges as an attempt to impede protesters’ ability to access legal aid.

Legal experts said prosecutors could face significant hurdles as the case progresses. Charitable organizations have First Amendment rights and routinely reimburse people for expenses such as those listed in arrest affidavits. The Network for Strong Communities cites the bail fund, the pursuit of police accountability and the education of community activists among its initiatives. To prove fraud, prosecutors would have to show that donations were used for other purposes.

“It’s a stretch to use white-collar fraud claims to charge these individuals, but they clearly want them to be charged,” said Randy Chartash, a former federal prosecutor of white-collar crime who is now a criminal defense attorney in Atlanta. Still, he said, it’s common for prosecutors to bring unrelated charges, such as tax evasion, against someone they believe is involved in a crime.

Money laundering in this context would typically refer to an attempt to conceal the source of funds or the use of funds to promote criminal activity, Mr Chartash said, adding: “This will be a difficult case to prove. “

But the arrests have also fueled concerns that extend beyond the case itself. Josh McLaurin, a Democratic state senator representing a suburb of Atlanta, called the raid “reckless” and said, “The situation is already at a fever pitch.”

The battle for the piece of forest, an old prison farm reclaimed by nature, has been going on for almost two years.

Plans for the roughly $90 million facility include areas for police interns to learn vehicle skills, as well as a nightclub, convenience store and homes, all intended to better prepare officers, but also to dismantle a police force that is exhausted of morale and manpower in recent years.

The development has been challenged not only by activists who oppose the aggressive police tactics and increased militarization of the police departments they believe will be supported by the facility, but also by environmentalists who want to protect a rare remaining piece of greenery near Atlanta.

Tensions came to a head during a violent confrontation between protesters and law enforcement in January, when a 26-year-old environmental activist named Manuel Esteban Paez Terán was fatally shot and a police officer was injured.

Some of those concerned about the crackdown on protesters say the debate over the training center is particularly resonant in Atlanta because of the city’s deep ties to the civil rights movement and the role of protests in shaping the city’s identity .

“Because of our reputation, Atlanta needs to raise the bar on freedom of expression,” said Liliana Bakhtiari, a city council member representing the East Atlanta area where the three were arrested. and a critic of the planned facility. “The state’s actions against us, and what they’re enacting in our city, I feel are a direct threat to that legacy and to the spirit of what Atlanta is.”

Chris Carr, the attorney general, said Georgia would continue to prosecute cases related to the protests. “We will not rest,” he said in a statement, “until we hold accountable every person who funded, organized or participated in this violence and harassment.”

But Ruwa Romman, a Democratic state representative from Duluth, northeast of Atlanta, expressed a sense of exhaustion — not only from the aggressive response to protesters, but also from the push to continue building the facility.

She said the project should have been interrupted after the death of the activist known as Tortuguita. “But,” she said, “the only message I see to law enforcement is, ‘Whatever you do, we’ll make sure you get what you need, whatever the cost.'”

Shaila Dewan reporting contributed.