Federal Agents Raid Militia Activist's Property
Reported by John Klekamp
Web Produced by Christiana CiolacFederal agents got more than they bargained for when they raided the home of local militia activist Mark Koernke.
Mark Koernke has been in prison for more than two years.
U.S. Marshals were out Wednesday at his Dexter property from reports from a pirate radio operation and when they were out there, they saw something and alerted the ATF.
Deputies shut down Dexter-Pinkney Road as authorities searched the property of jailed militia member Mark Koernke. ATF agents said they found weapons, but they would not say how many.
"So far we found a large number of guns and a large quantity of ammunition," said ATF Special Agent Gregory Holley.
The federal search warrant was executed after U.S. Marshals had entered the home to confiscate a low powered transmitter used for a pirate radio station, 90.7FM.
"The local deputies in this area said there isn't much range to it. You can hear it somewhere within the village area which is somewhere within maybe two mile or so, but it's very short," said Washtenaw County Sheriff Daniel Minzey said.
All that can be heard on the frequency now is static. Deputies say Koernke the FM station is used to spread his message about the Michigan militia. Koernke is in state prison doing time for a high-speed chase back in March 2000.
Authorities say they have had many encounters with Koernke in the past, even though he is behind bars, they are not done with him yet.
"We don't want to say it is illegal or legal, but some of these weapons will be going to the lab for determination to see if they are in violation of the federal laws. At that time if it is so, we will file federal charges," said Special Agent Holley.
Authorities say Koernke's wife and two sons live at the property in Dexter. It is not clear who owns the weapons or who was running the radio station.
"The local deputies in this area said there isn't much range to it. You can hear it somewhere within the village area which is somewhere within maybe two mile or so, but it's very short,"Power levels on the order of several Watts are needed on the FM Broadcast band JUST to get this kind of range.
This kind of power level is DEFINITELY over the legally permitted power limit actually allowed for use on the FM broadcast band by low-power consumer devices like cheap wireless mics ...
Also - Koernke (and most *other* pirates) fail to take other technical factors into consideration, like radiated harmonics -
- the second harmonic falls into the range of TV channels 7 through 13
- the third harmonic falls into the range of military aircraft comm and satellite band.
And I haven't mentioned that the civilian aircraft communications and navigation band is just *above* the commercial FM Broadcast band -
- spuriuous emmissions from pirate transmitters CAN AFFECT this aircraft comm band ... THIS affects both people's LIVES and their PROPERTY!
NOW do you people see why we have these LAWS on the books (against indiscriminate pirate 'broadcasting')?