read the article: No actual bomb. Materials that can be bought legally. No evidence of an actual plot, target, time, place, etc. Not even a sawed-off shotgun or an unlicensed full-auto. These guys may be kooks, but it isn't at all clear they deserved anything other than whatever forgery complaint could be brought against them for the fake IDs.
The dude pleaded guilty to possession of a WMD.
Identity theft and fraud is no minor thing- those who engage in it are able to destroy the reputations and credit of innocent victims, incur debts on the innocent, do economic harm to credit companies and other businesses, add unneccessary red tape and costs to the legal process, obtain welfare or other benefits and entitlements fraudulently (defrauding people who unlike the perps, DO pay taxes) and engage in smuggling and other criminal activity, none of which is beneficial to our liberties but rather, give people more ammo to try to legislate them away in the name of going after criminals. These weren't teenagers trying to get beer with a fake ID, nor truckers trying to limit the number of tickets to their licenses- we are talking about birth certificates here, and most importantly, defense-related ID, the kind of fake ID which simply isn't required for petty criminals but is pretty handy for wanna-be terrorists or people who wish to undermine national security / defense.
Combined with everything else in their possession, the fake IDs are very good reason to take the case seriously and not dismiss it as a mere case of the kooks.
The documents intended for Edward Feltus, 56, of Old Bridge, N.J., included birth certificates from North Dakota, Vermont and West Virginia and phony identification cards for the Defense Intelligence Agency and the United Nations Multinational Force. Feltus pleaded guilty to possessing the documents.
read the article: No actual bomb. Materials that can be bought legally. No evidence of an actual plot, target, time, place, etc. Not even a sawed-off shotgun or an unlicensed full-auto. These guys may be kooks, but it isn't at all clear they deserved anything other than whatever forgery complaint could be brought against them for the fake IDs.From the article:
Investigators found nearly 500,000 rounds of ammunition, 65 pipe bombs and briefcases that could be detonated by remote control...