DETROIT — Members of a Midwest Christian militia accused of conspiring to overthrow the government were arrested after the FBI lured them to a warehouse to attend a phony memorial service, where they would be unarmed, Michigan’s chief federal agent said Thursday.
The ruse Saturday in Ann Arbor was part of a series of weekend raids in several states that resulted in the indictment of nine people in the alleged plot, officials said.
“We basically set up a scenario where we were able to draw them all to one location,” said Andrew Arena, head of the FBI in Detroit. “And the reason we did that was to obviously get them away from their weapons.”
Nine suspected members of a group called Hutaree were charged this week with seditious conspiracy, or plotting to levy war against the U.S., attempting to use weapons of mass destruction and other crimes.
They planned to make a false 911 call, kill responding police officers and set off a bomb at the funeral to kill many more, according to prosecutors. The FBI said it broke up the plot with the help of an undercover agent.
Also Thursday, a federal judge said he needed more time to decide whether eight of the nine people in custody in the Detroit area will remain locked up until trial. The ninth defendant is in custody in Indiana. A decision was expected today.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald Scheer heard a second day of arguments and denied a request by defense attorneys to force FBI agents to testify. He said prosecutors could make their case for pretrial custody without calling witnesses.
