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Anarchist group leader's power over others questioned
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SAVANNAH — Army Pvt. Isaac Aguigui held the Army's lowest rank, served in the military less than two years and never saw combat. Yet Georgia prosecutors say the 21-year-old soldier from Cashmere, Wash., commanded enough authority to form an anti-government militia within the U.S. military with soldiers of greater rank and experience following his orders — including an order to commit murder.

That an untested soldier might possess such power adds another odd twist to an unfolding legal case full of stunning allegations.

Prosecutors in rural southeast Georgia said in court this week that Aguigui and three fellow soldiers at Fort Stewart killed a former Army comrade and his girlfriend last December. Their motive, prosecutors said, was to protect a secret plot to assassinate the president and overthrow the U.S. government — and along the way to bomb a park fountain in nearby Savannah, poison apple orchards in Washington state and take over the Army post where they were stationed. Authorities say the group stockpiled guns and bomb components that were seized from their homes and a storage locker.

Federal authorities have not said publicly whether they considered Aguigui and his associates a serious threat. One private group that monitors home-grown terrorism said it had never heard of Aguigui or his militia group.

"They were never on our radar screen," said Mark Potok, an expert on militia and hate groups for the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala. "You'd think the whole thing would be a joke except for that two people died and that they apparently spent $87,000 on guns."

Among the other details that emerged this week: Authorities say Aguigui funded the weapons purchases using a $500,000 in life insurance benefits from the 2011 death of his pregnant wife — a death that authorities call "highly suspicious." And in a videotaped interview with military investigators, a prosecutor said, Aguigui called himself "the nicest cold-blooded murderer you will ever meet."

Aguigui was due back in court Thursday along with two fellow soldiers for arraignment on charges including malice murder, felony murder and illegal gang activity in the Dec. 4 slayings of former Army Pvt. Michael Roark and his 17-year-old girlfriend, Tiffany York. Defense attorneys for the three men did not return messages from The Associated Press.

The three are being prosecuted in Georgia's Atlantic Judicial Circuit. The Army filed murder charges against them in March, but dropped them Aug. 15.

A fourth Fort Stewart soldier pleaded guilty to reduced charges Tuesday and told a judge Aguigui ordered two older, more experienced soldiers to commit the killings.

Pfc. Michael Burnett, the soldier who cut the plea deal, told the judge that Sgt. Anthony Peden, a 26-year-old veteran of two tours in Afghanistan whose Army record lists 16 medals and commendations, shot the teenage girl twice at Aguigui's command. Burnett also testified Pvt. Christopher Salmon, 26 with one Iraq tour on his service record, put Roark on his knees and shot him in the head.

Prosecutor Isabel Pauley said Aguigui targeted troubled soldiers for his militia, which he called F.E.A.R. — Forever Enduring Always Ready. Whatever the young private lacked in rank and combat experience, he had something else: roughly $500,000. Pauley said he received the life insurance and benefit payments after his wife, Army Sgt. Deirdre Aguigui, died.

Prosecutors say Aguigui bought $87,000 worth of semi-automatic assault rifles, other guns and bomb-making materials. Aguigui would give Roark money to buy weapons for him, the slain soldier's father said.

"They were using Michael and other kids as straw buyers, giving them money to go buy guns," said Brett Roark, citing conversations with prosecutors. "He wasn't a member of the gang."

Roark and his girlfriend were killed two days after Roark left the Army. The slain girl's older brother said he knew something was wrong when Roark started giving her cash and expensive clothes, sunglasses and other gifts.

"An E-1 (private) in the military does not make big money like he was giving Tiffany," said Nicholas Lee York, who said his sister told him that she and Roark had a "rich friend." ''I heard about their friend Isaac Aguigui and how he would give them a bunch of money."

Aguigui grew up with six siblings in a military family in the state of Washington. Their father, according to a short alumnus profile on his high school's website, retired after serving 20 years in the Army. Articles from Aguigui's hometown newspaper, The Wenatchee World, say Aguigui was home-schooled. His father, Edward Aguigui, did not return a phone message seeking comment.

Isaac Aguigui joined the Army and enrolled in the U.S. Military Academy Prep School, which prepares cadets for admission to West Point, but he never became an officer. Instead, Aguigui's service record shows he arrived at Fort Stewart in November 2010 as a private, working as an intelligence analyst in the Army's 3rd Infantry Division.

Aguigui came to Fort Stewart to join his wife, an Army linguist whom he'd met at the military prep school, according to her obituary. After she returned home from a deployment to Iraq, Deirdre Aguigui became pregnant. A few months later, on July 17, 2011, she was found dead at the couple's home on the Army post. Their unborn son was also lost.

Prosecutor Pauley said in court Tuesday the death of Aguigui's wife was "highly suspicious," but civilian prosecutors and military investigators declined to elaborate. Her father, Alma Wetzker, also declined to discuss his daughter's death, saying it was still being investigated.

Regina Ross-Schmid, an Army spouse at Fort Stewart and friend of Aguigui's wife, said soldiers who served with the woman were never given an explanation of her death.

"When we first were told she had died, what was said was she laid down to take a nap and when Isaac went to wake her up, he couldn't wake her up," Ross-Schmid said.

Ross-Schmid said she met the Aguigui for the first time at a memorial service for his wife on Fort Stewart.

"Everybody who spoke at the memorial was trying to choke back tears, these big strong Army men, and he's not showing any emotion at all," she said. "At the time I said, maybe he's in shock. I don't know. I can't explain it. It just seemed odd."

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HPD Reports
crime scene

From Hinesville Police Department reports. Editor’s note: Due to computer issues at the city, reports have been unavailable in recent weeks. They are back. Our thanks to the HPD clerks who provide them. We’re catching up as quickly as possible.

Burglary, etc: A man called 911 on Feb. 27 because he was watching his White Circle home getting burglarized. The man said his alarm system had an app that showed live video on his phone, and he was “viewing three males inside his residence,” as he talked to 911.
Police responded, caught two of them inside the house and found the third guy “hiding behind a tree,” the report said.
Detectives are investigating.

Public indecency: An officer was sent to Lowes around 4:30 p.m. March 12 in reference to a disturbance involving a man and a woman.
The woman, a Lowe’s employee, said she had just got back from her lunch break when she saw the man “looking around at items on a shelf.”
The woman said she asked him if he needed help finding anything and he held up something, then said “I have found everything I need,” the report said. “(he) then placed his arms around (the employee) to hug her and then kissed (her) neck. (She) then moved away from (him) and told him to have a nice day and attempted to walk away from (the man). (He) then began to follow (her), stating ‘I would lick you up and down’ and ‘you better hide in an office.’ (She) then spoke with manager and called 911.’”
The man told police he thought he recognized the woman “and stated to me that he had previously had a relationship with her approximately two years ago. (He) was unable to recall (her) name while on scene.”
The woman told police “she has never seen, nor spoken to (the man) before today.”
The woman was given a case number and told what to do. The man was allowed to leave.

Indecent exposure: A Berkshire Terrace man reported he went outside his house around 6:40 a.m. and “observed a man who appeared to be intoxicated, peeing on his truck and trailer.”
The complainant said the man “fully exposed his penis while he was peeing. When (complainant) asked him to stop the man told him to ‘shut the (bleep) up.’ (Complainant) advised the man he would call police. (Complainant) advised his young son was standing outside during the incident. He said the man got into a 1996 black Buick and drove away, almost hitting cars that were parked in the driveway.”
The complainant said he did not want to press charges, “he said he wanted to report the incident because the man did not stop peeing when he asked him too.”
The complainant said he’d seen the man before “come and go” from a nearby apartment. The officer met with the resident of that apartment, who said the man was a cousin and did not pee on the complainant’s trailer.

Identity theft: A man went to HPD on March 21 to report that when he went to get a driver’s history for a commercial driver’s license, he found several citations on the history that weren’t his. “(He) stated he noticed someone was issued four citations in Arkansas and one citation in Jacksonville, Florida,” and during the time the Arkansas tickets were written he was in locked up in Georgia.
“(He) advised that he was not incarcerated when the citation in Jacksonville, Florida was issued but he was not in Florida at the time. (He) was unable to leave the state of Georgia due to being on felony probation.”
It gets worse.
“(He) told me that he attempted to file his income taxes for the first time ever and he was rejected due to owing the IRS money, $20,000. (He) stated he spoke to a representative for the IRS and he was informed that taxes were filed in his name in 2014 and the return was $1,3000. (He) advised he did not file taxes in 2013 and he was still incarcerated at the time.”
The man then told the officer he thinks his brother “got the citations and filed income taxes using his information. (He) believed his brother obtained his Social Security number and other demographics when he was incarcerated.”
The man said he talked to his brother, who said he paid all the tickets. “(His) brother also told him on a different occasion that he knew his date of birth and (SSN). (He) advised he told his brother that it was not OK to use his name due to him getting his life together and attempting to drive commercial vehicles.”
The guy said he didn’t have his brother’s address. He chose to fill out an identity theft packet.

Simple battery, theft by taking: An officer was sent around 2 a.m. March 20 to the Baymont Inn regarding a disturbance. There, a woman said she was being “grabbed and pulled” by a man when she told him to leave her motel room. She said they began arguing when he accused her of stealing $100.
The man claimed he met the woman on a dating website and when they “started having sex she informed him that it would cost $100.” He told her he wasn’t going to pay her, “got dressed and realized the five $20s in his pants pocket were missing. He accused (her) of stealing his money.”
The officer asked the woman if she stole the man’s money and she replied, “No, I work hard for my money.”
Both were given a case number and told how to get a warrant.

Robbery: A woman called HPD March 15 to report she was home when her estranged husband came to her apartment “and asked her to come outside to talk to him,” a report said.
“She stated that she stepped outside thinking that he was going to be civil, though she recently filed for divorce from him. As she stepped outside, he grabbed her necklace off her neck and then ran down the stairwell and out to the parking lot.”
The woman said he stood by his vehicle a minute, then drove off as police arrived. Officers checked the area but had no luck finding the man.

Burglary: Police were sent to a Malibu Drive address on March 13 regarding missing firearms and ransacked rooms. The homeowners were at work and got home to find handguns and rifles missing, as well as video games.
It appeared the home may have been broken into through the attic. Police found footprints and other evidence, and the case is under investigation.

Recovered stolen trailer: A U-Haul employee was inventorying equipment on March 14 when she discovered a trailer that had been reported stolen in Florida on Dec. 26. “She stated someone had backed the trailer into a parking stall along with the other trailers sometime during the night.”

Theft: In February, the maintenance man at Cypress Bend Mobile Home Park reported that “22 air conditioning unit disconnect boxes were stolen from various lots… He stated he began receiving calls from people that their air conditioning units were not working.”
The boxes contain small pieces of copper. He didn’t know who swiped them, but valued the total at about $341.

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