Feds Hope to Deny Bail to Alaska Militia Suspect
Why would a 53-year-old woman be carrying around recipes for homemade explosives and information on the deadly poison ricin?
Federal authorities in Alaska say they aren’t sure. And they don’t know where Mary Ann Morgan was heading when she was arrested in late October as she attempted to enter Canada, possibly en route to the lower 48 states.
Morgan, a resident of Kenai and secretary of the Alaska Peacemakers Militia, was found in possession of a Baretta .32-caliber pistol, which she can’t legally possess because she has a prior felony conviction.
In her truck, authorities also found a “horde of documents,” including information on ricin and other poisons, firearms, close combat training, pipe bombs and explosives, a court document says.
“Her vehicle was loaded with a large amount of documents and little to no personal effects,” the document says.
Morgan is the fifth person arrested as part of an FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation into the alleged “241” plot to kill state troopers and a judge in Alaska. Francis Schaeffer Cox, the 27-year-old leader of the Peacemakers, is at the center of the unfolding investigation. He is currently in jail without bail awaiting trial on a variety of federal weapons charges.
As the terrorism task force looks for answers about Morgan’s involvement, Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Skrocki says he is certain about one thing: She is a “danger to the community, a flight risk and is totally incapable of abiding by any (release) conditions issued by this court.”
The federal prosecutor will ask that she be detained without bond at a bail hearing now set for Wednesday.