Posted on 05/31/2012 10:46:04 AM PDT by JohnKinAK
Prepper Sentenced to 21 Months In Prison For Stockpiling “Destructive Devices” After Insider Rats Him Out
OpSec, or Operational Security, is an important rule to follow for those who have chosen to prepare for emergencies by stockpiling food, self defense armaments and disaster supplies.
It’s simple, really. Don’t talk about your preparedness supplies unless it is with trusted people with whom you will be working if a worst case scenario comes to pass. Otherwise, if the world around you collapses and your neighbors and acquintances known you have supplies, guess who they will turn to for help. If you deny them help when they come asking, and they have no place else to turn, you can be relatively certain they will do everything in their power to get at your larder – and that means collaborating with those who would do you harm.
The other key reason we don’t talk about our preps, especially the sharing of critical details like what we store and where we store it, is that you are a potential domestic terror suspect with respect to newly disseminated bulletins from the FBI and Department of Homeland Security.
Case in point: Alfred C. Dutton was recently convicted of possession of unregistered destructive devices after sharing his preparedness lifestyle with his ex-wife’s boyfriend.
Off Grid Survival Reports:
A number of times in the past, I have warned about how dangerous I think T.V. shows like Doomsday Preppers are to the prepping community. In my opinion, these prepping shows do nothing to help people prepare and are designed to do only one thing – To make Preppers look like complete Wackjobs!
I hate to say I was right, but it seems the popular reality T.V. show about prepping is now being used to help obtain search warrants and convict preppers of crimes.
The case in question, involves a man from Kansas who was prepping for an economic collapse scenario. It seems law enforcement officials in Kansas used the T.V. show and images of preppers to not only obtain a warrant for a residents arrest, but also to convict the man of crimes in court.
Aflred Dutton, a military veteran and self described prepper from Kansas, was convicted last month of making and storing explosive devices. While what he did may have been a crime, this story should serve as a warning to other preppers. USE YOUR RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT WHEN IT COMES TO PREPPING……The fact that you prep can and will be used against you in the court of law.
The Basis for the Search Warrants states:
Mr. Dutton, a military veteran, has been preparing for the economic collapse of the world. In addition to gathering a large supply of non-perishable items, he also has a modest collection of firearms and ammunition. And he makes fireworks.
During the trial, the prosecution played clips from the popular National Geographic Channel show, “Doomsday Preppers”. The prosecution used images of various “crazy ass preppers” from the T.V. show to successfully paint a picture of Mr. Dutton, as someone on the fringe of society that posed an extreme danger to his community.
Mr. Dutton’s undoing came at the hands of someone he trusted but shouldn’t have:
The only source of information for the storage unit search warrant came from Joe Scott, Mr. Dutton’s ex-wife’s boyfriend. Mr. Scott often came to Mr. Dutton’s apartment to pick up Mr. Dutton’s daughter for her visitation. During these visits, Mr. Dutton and Mr. Scott discussed firearms, fireworks, and other explosives.
…
On August 23, 2011, Mr. Scott went to the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office to tell them about the conversations he had had with Mr. Dutton. Based on Mr. Scott’s information, local law enforcement officer, Captain Lumley, prepared an affidavit supporting the search warrant.
Joe Scott came to the Greenwood county Sheriff’s Office to report that Alfred Dutton Jr. possibly had explosives. Scott said that on or about August 9th of 2011 he had gone to Dutton’s apartment to pick up a minor child per court visitation. While standing and talking with Dutton he produced a small cylindrical device about the size, Scott thought, of a triple A battery. Dutton asked if he knew what it was and when Joe said he didn’t Dutton told him it was a fuse for a hand grenade.
During their talk Dutton had said he ordered fuses from the internet and when they arrived and found they were what he wanted he was then going to order Grenade hulls and claymore mine hulls because the fuse worked in either one. When Scott went to pick up the child on August 16th Dutton told him that he could not find the black powder he needed that [sic] to complete the devices and had to order it from Cabela’s website on the internet.
Scott said when Dutton told him that he ordered the black powder he became concerned for safety reasons of the minor child and public safety of the residents around him in the apartment complex. Scott gave me a package of 20foot safety fuse and told me that Dutton had given it to him just after July 4th of 2010 to “blow stuff up” if he ever needed to, Scott has become concerned because Dutton told him when the government starts to round up citizens he will be one of the first because of his military background.
Source: Dept. of Justice
Mr. Dutton was subsequently charged with with knowingly possessing destructive devices, more fully described as five incendiary bombs (Count I) and nine grenades (Count II). He was convicted under Federal Law and sentenced to serve 21 months in prison.
As Off Grid Survival points out in their report, Mr. Dutton was breaking the law and there is a likelihood that he was endangering those living in his direct vicinity.
We’re not defending Mr. Dutton’s actions, though we suspect there is many a prepper out there that possess similar incendiary devices (or parts) intended for use to protect one’s property from looters and roaming gangs in the aftermath of a collapse. Likewise, there are preppers out there stockpiling other supplies that may not be fully compliant with the law or have been obtained by circumventing existing state and federal statutes.
As such, what this report highlights is that if you talk about your preps with anyone but those who will join you at your survival retreat, you are asking for trouble.
Let’s say it together…. The first rule of Prep Club is…
“Mr. Dutton, a military veteran, has been preparing for the economic collapse of the world. In addition to gathering a large supply of non-perishable items, he also has a modest collection of firearms and ammunition.”
And this is a violation of what law??
Hell, the government stockpiles all kinds of crap—when are they going to be arrested??
claymore mines aren’t on my prep list
Just think if his name was Habib something!!...
Ping
Answer: "One. Any more than that, it isn't a secret any more."
I suspect it was the hobby of "making fireworks" that did him in.
You’re on the wrong forum then...
Or, as the Russians used to say, “Three men can keep a secret, if two of them are dead.”
Doesn’t a secret have to involve more than one person? Otherwise, seems it would just be a thought that you didn’t tell anyone.
Over here...
Mr. Dutton was subsequently charged with with knowingly possessing destructive devices, more fully described as five incendiary bombs (Count I) and nine grenades (Count II). He was convicted under Federal Law and sentenced to serve 21 months in prison.
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This is a level beyond “prepping”.
I have ammo. I am not stocking grenades.
I think it odd the article also had to mention the other items...implying or maybe suggesting this too is a violation of some law.
Secrets involve more than just thoughts. No one else need be involved. How many people know today's launch codes for ICBMs?
Secrets also might involve actions, hard information, or observations.
It is not revealing that knowledge or action which makes it secret--and keeps it that way.
I am, I'm just letting the national guard store them for me until needed. They also have my M1A1 and A-10 /s (this added for the ATF bastards who monitor FR)
Nah. Wrong. It was the scumbag Joe Scott who finked on him that did him in. And before that could happen, he made the mistake of trusting "Finky" Joe. That combination "did him in."
I 'd hazard that "Finky" Joe Scott should be thinking about relocating before this dude gets out of stir. He'll probably spend the next 21 months very carefully planning how to express his displeasure to Mr. Finky without it ever being traced back to him.
Human nature being what it is, and all.
N'yuk, n'yuk, n'yuk.
I'm not, either--nothing illegal, in fact, and I aim to keep it that way. The idea is that it won't help to prep if you end up in prison.
More than one person knows the launch codes.
So everything anyone does or thinks that no one else knows about, is a secret?
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