Officers also arrested Leroy Sheets and Earl Nash, whose ages and addresses were not available. None of the three men was charged with crimes.
How do you arrest someone and not charge them with a crime?
Prosecutors file the charging documents. More often than not people are arrested before any charges are filed. The prosecutors will then decide what charges, if any, to file with the court. For instance, if police catch someone who just stole something or who just committed a domestic battery or something they will make an arrest before the prosecutor knows anything about the case. The prosecutor will look at the reports and maybe talk to police or witnesses or victims and then decide what charges to file. In drug cases they'll arrest people if they find drugs or record a transaction and often there won't be an arrest warrant or any charges filed when the arrest is made. In a case like this right now the cops are probably working on these people trying to get one or more of them to cooperate or work for them setting other people up in exchange for leniency. The prosecutors might not actually charge all of the people arrested, but probably will and they'll probably hit them with every charge they think they might have some remote chance of proving so they'll have room to play in negotiating plea agreements and in working on people to get them to testify for them. Whether they work much with this activist fellow depends on local politics. If they really want to nail the guy they'll lean on everyone else involved to get them to testify against him. Even though no charges were filed at the time this article was written doesn't mean none have been filed or will be filed in short order.