I reported earlier this month about five people arrested on domestic terrorism charges who were occupying what some called an “Antifa Autonomous Zone” in a forest/construction site in Georgia. A police training center is to be built in the area and radical leftists have been occupying the area for months trying to stop the project they’re nicknamed “Cop City: and “defend” the forest.
A sixth person was later added to those arrested, Ariel Ebaugh, 22 of Stockbridge, Georgia. The others arrested were Francis Carroll, 22, of Maine; Serena Hertel, 25, of California; Leonard Vioselle, 20, of Macon; Arieon Robinson, 21, of Wisconsin; and Nicholas Olson, 25, of Nebraska.
They were “accused of throwing rocks and glass bottles, resisting arrest and possessing pipe bombs and trip wires.” Domestic terrorism charges could net them from five to 35 years in prison. But one of the attorneys for the defendants dared to claim that they were “political prisoners” and tried to argue about the charges.
How did these leftist radicals who were charged with domestic terrorism fare when they appeared in court?
DeKalb County Senior Judge Mathew Robins reportedly granted bonds varying from $6,000 to $13,500. The defendants who live out of state must waive their extradition rights. None of them can contact each other, the activist group on social media or return to the public safety training center site.
So they got out on what could only be considered a very low bond given the charges. Compare that to the treatment of Jan. 6 people, some of whom continued to be held pending their trials. But even though it sounds like they got a great gift there, leftists continued to scream on social media about how they were being treated and seemed to suggest that one was improperly classified and in the wrong jail.
Activists who were protesting at the site included other people who came from at least seven other states besides Georgia. Other activists had been accused in multiple other incidents including an attack in May in which eight activists were accused of attacking police by throwing Molotov cocktails at them as they escorted construction workers onto the site. Activists were also accused of attacking and harassing residents of the area, including throwing a “gas bomb” at a man’s car. The man said he thought that they wanted to burn him alive.
According to the Daily Mail, one of the arrested people charged with domestic terrorism, Francis Carroll, is the son of a wealthy surgeon who lived a stone’s throw from the Bush compound in Kennebunkport, Maine, who grew up in a $2 million home and sailed on the family yacht.