More than 60 people have been indicted by Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr (R) as part of an alleged criminal conspiracy related to protests of Atlanta’s new Public Safety Training Center.
Public officials confirmed that 61 individuals were indicted as part of a racketeering case tied to the protests on Tuesday, and charging documents claim an organized criminal effort to derail the police and public safety training facility began as early as 2020. The case will be prosecuted by Carr (pictured above) using the Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
The 109-page indictment claims the decentralized Defend the Atlanta Forest organization behind the protests is motivated by left wing anarchism, a drive to protect the environment at any cost, and “an anti-law enforcement ideology that attempts to push a narrative that all police are violent, militant individuals that frequently use excessive fore and violence against innocent citizens” with the goal of eliminating “police forces in their entirety.”
Authorities say the group began a criminal conspiracy on May 25, 2020, ultimately concocting a plan to “occupy” the forested acres of DeKalb County, Georgia that are owned by the Atlanta Police Foundation and leased for the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center. To pull off the scheme, the group allegedly used the dark web to coordinate, and used traditional social media and blogs to solicit funding from a nationwide audience.
Still, this funding was allegedly made possible by three individuals who reside at a single Atlanta address, Marlon Scott Kautz, Adele Maclean, and Savannah Patterson. The three are closely tied to the Network for Strong Communities, which operated the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, a bail fund authorities say is used to bond ideologically motivated individuals out of jails, and began raising money for Defend the Atlanta Forest members for a separate Forest Justice Defense Fund.
Prosecutors say $89,000 was disbursed by the Network for Strong Communities to Defend the Atlanta Forest members until Kautz, Maclean, and Patterson “learned that the State was aware” of their financial backing for the forest occupation in May. Prosecutors claim just one day after the discovery, the trio attempted to “disconnect the Forest Justice Defense Fund from the Network for Strong Communities,” moving nearly $50,000 to another group in the process.
The indictment also offers details on the January forest occupation that led to the death of a protester, noting that police were allegedly met with “dangerous, sharp traps” left by the group to defer law enforcement, and discovered “ingredients for making Molotov cocktails” and “a rudimentary pipe bomb that had not been completed.”
Below is a full list of those charged in the RICO case:
- Jack Morgan Beamon
- Max Jacob Biedeman
- Timothy E. Bilodeau
- Emma Katherine Bogush
- Andrew Carlisle
- Amin Jalal Chaoui
- Brooke Elaine Courtemanche
- Coliin Patrick Dorsey
- Julia Caroline Dupuis
- Ariel Caitlin Ebaugh
- Lillian Pearl Ellis
- Ivan James Ferguson
- Madeleine Feola
- Phillip Allen Flagg
- Carroll Francis
- Maggie June Gates
- Nadja Geier
- Priscilla Christine Grim
- Sonali Gupta
- Luke Edward Harper
- Serena Abby Hertel
- Marianna Elizabeth Hoitt-Lange
- Thomas Webb Jurgens
- Marlon Scott Kautz
- Ayla Elegia King
- Katie Marie Kloth
- Madeline Gunther Kodat
- Hannah Margaret Kass
- Zoe C. Larmey
- Dimitri Roger Leny
- Spender Bernard Liberto
- Ana Gypsy Lee
- Mattia Luini
- Matthew Ernest Macar
- Adele Maclean
- James Lee Marsiciano
- Grace Taylor Martin
- Kayley Cheryl Meissner
- Timothy A.R. Murphy
- Emily Kathyrn Murphy
- Leif Kingfisher Nicholas Novak
- Tyler John Norman
- Ehret William Nottingham
- Nicholas Dean Olson
- Alexia Achilles Papali
- Goeffrey Parsons
- Savannah Patterson
- Kamryn Durel Pipes
- Victor Enrique Puertas
- Christopher Reynolds
- Fredrique Robert-Paul
- Arieon T. Robinson
- Teresa Yue Shen
- Abigail Elizabeth Skapyak
- Caroline Hart Tennenbaum
- Geneva Rose Tilbury
- Abeeku Osei Vassail
- Samuel Clemens Ward
- William Budden Warren
- Sara Wasalewski
- Leonard Zen
The Atlantic Public Safety Training Center was announced in 2021 and became the subject of national news in January 2023 when protester Manuel “Tortuguita” Terán was killed after shooting a Georgia State Trooper. Following his death, at another event in March, total of 35 people were detained, and 23 arrested, during what police called a “coordinated attack” on the site.
In June, Carr released a statement pledging to continue pursuing the matter after DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston (D) withdrew her office from the prosecution of all cases related to the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.
“While the District Attorney has decided to no longer assist in this case, our office is fully committed to moving forward with the prosecution of those who have engaged in or supported violent acts surrounding the Public Safety Training Center,” Carr said in a statement at the time.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Georgia Star News and a reporter for the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
