Hammond man accused in militia plot to kill cops

HAMMOND | A 46-year-old Hammond man arrested over the weekend in an FBI operation targeting alleged members of an extremist Christian militia planning to kill a Michigan police officer and blow up cars of other cops in his funeral procession has contested his transfer from Indiana to Michigan, where he is charged with sedition and weapons violations.

Thomas W. Piatek, of 1940 Calumet Ave., appeared in Hammond federal court Monday morning to answer to charges he and other alleged members of the Hutaree Christian militant group plotted to kill police officers and wage war on the United States government.

The purpose of Monday's hearing was only to confirm that Piatek is the man charged in the indictment in Michigan. Had he agreed that he is the indicted man, Magistrate Judge Paul Cherry would have ordered him transferred to Michigan. Piatek confirmed in court Monday that his name does correspond to the name in the indictment, but he said he didn't understand the accusations against him.

"I don't understand this," he said.

"What they're alleging and what I've done are two different things."

Cherry continued the identity hearing until Wednesday, and he agreed to appoint a lawyer to represent Piatek at his identity hearing.

Piatek, dressed in blue jeans and a light blue polo shirt and sporting long, graying dark hair and stubble, appeared annoyed and confused, but he answered Cherry's questions. He complained that he had been "raped" by property taxes at his Hammond home.

Piatek is one of nine suspects indicted by a federal grand jury in Detroit and accused of taking part in a Christian militia group's plot to kill a police officer in Michigan, and then blow up the cars of law enforcement officials attending the funeral.

The suspects are tied to a group known as the Hutaree, and are charged with seditious conspiracy, attempted use of weapons of mass destruction, teaching the use of explosive materials and possessing a firearm during a crime of violence.

Piatek was arrested in Clarendon Hills, Ill. on Sunday after a raid at his Calumet Avenue home in Hammond the night before.

Also charged are: David Brian Stone, 45, and his wife, Tina Stone, 44; his son Joshua Matthew Stone, 21, of Clayton, Mich and his other son, David Brian Stone, Jr., 19,of Adrian, Mich.; Joshua Clough, 28, of Blissfield, Mich.; Michael Meeks, 40, of Manchester, Mich.; Kristopher Sickles, 27, of Sandusky, Ohio and Jacob Ward, 33, of Huron, Ohio.

Eight of the nine suspects have been arrested by the FBI. One more is being sought.

U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade told The Associated Press that agents moved on the suspects because the Hutaree members were planning a violent reconnaissance mission sometime in April.

Federal authorities accuse the nine suspects of conspiring to oppose by force the authority of the U.S. government through their actions as members of the Lenawee County, Mich. militia group called the Hutaree.

Court documents allege the Hutaree planned to kill an unidentified member of a local law enforcement agency, and then attack other officers who gathered in Michigan for the funeral.

According to the plan, the Hutaree would attack law enforcement vehicles during the funeral procession with, "improvised explosive devices and explosively formed projectiles," which -- according to the indictment -- constitute weapons of mass destruction.

Attacking the funeral was just one of several ideas discussed as attacks, according to the indictment. Other ideas included a fake emergency phone call to lure an officer to his or her death, or an attack on the family of a police officer, according to the indictment.

After such attacks, the group allegedly planned to retreat to "rally points" protected by trip-wired improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, for what they expected would become a violent standoff with law enforcement personnel.

"It is believed by the Hutaree that this engagement would then serve as a catalyst for a more wide-spread uprising against the government," according to the indictment.

Andrew Arena, head of the FBI's field office in Detroit, said the case "is an example of radical and extremist fringe groups which can be found throughout our society. The FBI takes such extremist groups seriously, especially those who would target innocent citizens and the law enforcement officers who protect the citizens of the United States."

Hutaree members view local, state and federal law enforcement as the "brotherhood" and an enemy, and have been preparing to engage them in armed conflict as part of an armed struggle against the U.S. government, according to the indictment.

On its Web site, Hutaree quotes several Bible passages and states: "We believe that one day, as prophecy says, there will be an Anti-Christ. ... Jesus wanted us to be ready to defend ourselves using the sword and stay alive using equipment."

The group did not return an e-mail sent by The Associated Press and phone numbers for the group's leadership were not immediately available.

In Hammond on Saturday night, 18-year-old George Ponce, who works at a pizzeria next door to a home that was raided, told The Associated Press that he and a few co-workers stepped outside for a break Saturday night and saw a swarm of law enforcement.

"I heard a yell, 'Get back inside!' and saw a squad member pointing a rifle at us," Ponce said. "They told us the bomb squad was going in, sweeping the house looking for bombs."

He said another agent was in the bushes near the house, and law enforcement vehicles were "all over." He estimated that agents took more than two dozen guns from the house.

In Ohio, one of the raids occurred at Bayshore Estates, a well-kept trailer park in Sandusky, a small city on Lake Erie between Toledo and Cleveland. Neighbors said the man taken into custody lived in a trailer on a cul-de-sac with his wife and two young children.

-- Times Staff Writer Dan Hinkel and the Associated Press contributed to this report.