Three Cop City protest organizers charged with money laundering after raid on ... trends now
Three activists who have been helping protesters of Atlanta's new proposed police and fire training center have been arrested for money laundering and charity fraud.
Marlon Scott Kautz, 39, Savannah D. Patterson, 30, and Adele Maclean, 42, were arrested in a dramatic raid on Wednesday at their home, which is covered in anti-police graffiti on Wednesday.
They are leaders of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund that supports the movement against the planned center, which opponents call 'Cop City.'
Activists have been trying to block the construction of the police training site since it was announced by then-mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, in 2021.
That facility would cover 85 acres of the of forestland south east of Atlanta. Activists have argued the $90million project will irrevocably destroy the local environment and also strengthen the police.
Three activists who have been aiding jailed protesters of a planned police training site in Georgia were arrested in a raid on Wednesday
Marlon Scott Kautz, 39, Adele Maclean, 42, and Savannah D. Patterson, 30, are charged with money laundering and charity fraud
The home where the activists were taken into custody is owned by Kautz and MacLean. Its walls feature messages like 'NO COPS,' and 'COP WATCH'
The Fund, part of the Network for Strong Communities, has provided bail funds and other legal resources to protesters.
'The GBI, along w/ the Atlanta Police Department, have arrested three people on charges stemming from the ongoing investigation of individuals responsible for numerous criminal acts at the future site of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center & other metro Atlanta locations,' the Georgia Bureau of Investigations said on Wednesday.
Footage of the raid posted online shows at least 10 officers in full gear and with their weapons out entering the activists' home east of downtown Atlanta.
The home where the activists were taken into custody is owned by Kautz and MacLean. Its walls feature messages like 'NO COPS,' and 'COP WATCH.'
The attorney for Kautz, Patterson and Maclean, Don Samuel, told the Associated Press on Wednesday that he had not yet seen the arrest warrants and was trying to determine the basis for the charges.
'I know what the crimes are that are alleged, but I don’t know exactly what the state’s alleging that these three people did or how they supposedly engaged in charity fraud,' he said.
The activists' arrest warrants, seen by Channel 2 Action News, accuse the trio of 'misleading by using funds collected through the State Registered 501c(3) Network for Strong Communities (NFSC) to fund the actions in part of Defend the Atlanta Forest (DTAF), a group classified by the United States Department of Homeland Security as Domestic Violence Extremists.'
Prosecutors say the group used funds from the Network for Strong
