Interview With Prepper: ‘We Were Held Without Charges’ For Survivalist Facebook Posts

It is no longer a conspiracy theory, but a fact that people are being specifically targeted for their participation in what some call “prepping” and others dub survivalism. A couple from California had their home raided and were held without charges for making non-violent posts on Facebook about survival techniques and thought-provoking discussions.

We were able to sit down and chat with Sarah Leach about why the government felt it necessary to raid the home she shared with her husband over what amounted to thought-provoking Facebook posts.  Although Leach admitted she wasn’t certain which particular Facebook post lead to the SWAT teams seizing all of their handguns and AR-15s,  she was sure nothing she had posted was violent.  Leach said her posts were meant to provoke thought, and hold those accountable who have committed crimes or human rights violations.

“They are trying to create “threats” our of posts that are meant to elicit thought and discussion. If I ever posted something that has been perceived as a credible threat of violence, it has been perceived as such erroneously.  I have zero history of violent behavior. I have not threatened anyone, rather I have stated that police must be held accountable, as well as federal agents, for the multitude of crimes committed against citizenry, from massive tragedies like the Waco massacre or small incidents like traffic citations made via racial profiling.  We [Leach and her husband Andy Leach] have called for these individuals to be held accountable, not just by civilians, but by their own government.”

Leach was also able to get her story out to The Free Thought Project.  The Leaches are the owners of a tactical supply company. Leach and her husband were violently arrested and then detained for hours with no explanation while their home was raided by a SWAT Team and their assets were seized. But it gets worse.

The couple was detained for over 13 hours without charges before they were told the reason for their arrest. The subject that surfaced immediately were some high capacity pistol magazines the state patrol had seized then returned the year before, but that didn’t seem to be the crux of the incident.

The Free Thought Project detailed the events which led up to the detainment of the Leaches. Leach said the ordeal began when she and her husband were running errands one morning. After they parked at a strip mall and got out of their car, a patrol car from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department pulled up and blocked their path. Two deputies got out and informed the couple that one of the taillights on their car was out.

“We attempted to thank them and proceed, but were blocked from movement,” Sarah Leach said. “It was at that point I noticed a few others sheriff’s vehicles had arrived, including undercover vehicles. I realized this was not a traffic stop when I saw police agents in blue jeans with AR-15s surrounding the area. I began to record on my phone and inquire as to whether I was being charged, detained, or was free to go. They violently cuffed me, threw my phone on the hood of the car, and shoved me in the back of an un-air-conditioned police vehicle for about one hour until their supervisor arrived to begin questioning me about aforementioned magazines.”

Once Leach and her husband actually began to undergo interrogation, she said it was highly disturbing the amount of information already obtained from her social media account. Leach told us specifically:

“More disturbing were the stacks of printed pages from my social media accounts, particularly those things which criticize police and government overreach, police violence, my personal ideologies regarding self-governance and the inalienable rights we are afforded as human beings, and even memes and jokes they found, as parts of evidence to request a search warrant, including posts of a very subjective and ironic nature.

What I know is that during the day which we were in police sutody, without charges, mind you, we were interrogated about a series of Facebook posts originating from my personal Facebook wall, as well as comments I had made on a friend’s posts.  They also collected all the photographs I had posted of firearms, both images of my personal guns as well as images of firearms which do not even belong to me; simply pictures of interesting guns I’d shared or saved.  They were all together in a stack of police evidence. I was questioned more about Facebook posts and their meanings than I was about any actual firearms.”

Leach also says her knowledge about prepping and survival also likely led to the government violating her basic fundamental human rights.

“They [investigaters/government agents] had infiltrated a survivalist group I was in where we had discussed various hypothetical scenarios, including responding to a federal raid. They used this as evidence against me. 

I do believe that our activity in the survivalist community lends to their suspicions and cause, which is outrageous.  The investigator informed me multiple times that he felt we were “very knowledgeable” and “more sophisticated” than he was regarding firearms. They questioned me about survival gear, posts in prepper groups about federal raids, specifically a discussion about land barrier construction and trench digging. This seemed to alarm them.”

When we asked Leach if the government agents had a warrant when they raided their home, she detailed a rather horrifying human rights violation committed by those same government agents.

“They did [have a warrant] but we were not shown it. In fact, we were in custody for about an hour until anyone would even give us a statement at all. I asked dozens of times what my charges were and was not answered until early morning the next day, at which time we were transferred to the county jail.”

We then asked Leach what charges were levied against her and her husband and her response should terrify anyone:

“They charged us after 13 hours with possession of assault weapon, and high capacity magazine (in fact, the same magazines California Highway Patrol gave back to us in 2017.) They seized our personal AR-15s (which were all built by Leach and her husband and all parts used to modify the rifles were purchased legally) and handguns and are trying to place additional charges on  my husband for sales and manufacturing of these wepons, destpite the fact that we have countless times made it clear that we sell the items [in order] to complete and modify a firearm; and do not sell completed firearms.”

One of the agents involved in the raid was from the National Terrorism Task Force and left a business card after they raided the Leach’s home, but haven’t made a statement or tried to contact the couple further at the time we had spoken with Mrs. Leach. Secret Service was also involved, which threw up a huge red flag, not just to Leach, but to us as well.

“We have been very vocal in criticizing the Trump administration and have not wavered in the belief that politician must be held accountable for their war crimes that even [a] “president” is not a title powerful enough to give a man the right to kill or give the order to kill. That is the only reason I can imagine secret service was involved. It’s truly asinine.”

Leach said she would also like to urge us all, now more than ever, to guard ourselves and she’d like to share a message to fellow survivalists and voluntaryists:

“I would urge my friends to guard yourselves more than ever against government spying and interference. It is no longer a conspiracy theory to propose that one can be caged for mere statements made on social media. I would also like to reach out the Survival and Voluntaryism communities and implore them to work even harder now for a life free of the shackles of the intrusive state, true personal liberty, and the rights afforded to us as human beings; and that they may continue to carry the fire for all of us whose pursuits are that of sovereignty and self-governance, based on peaceful principles.”

Leach and her husband still have an uphill battle against the government which has a monopoly on violence.  They will be fighting to have their morally acquired property returned to them, including their guns and a computer the Leaches used for business.

Should you choose to, please go here to donate to the Go Fund Me account set up to help the couple fight against the intrusive government.

VIDEO: Undercover Cop Handcuffs Innocent Man, Steals All of His Cash, Then Tells Him to Get Lost

San Diego, CA — A man is saying San Diego Police robbed him of nearly $800 after they stopped, handcuffed and frisked him outside of a local bar early Saturday morning. However, police claim that they have no idea what happened to his money.

Bret Checketts detailed the incident in a Facebook post:

“They put their hands on me and grappled me, took my wallet and went through it, of which $780 of cash was taken from my wallet. I’m unable to pay my rent and have no idea when it will be returned to me if it will be. I was put in hand cuffs for over 20 minutes with no reason given, once they went through my whole wallet , felt me up one side and down the other, went through my pockets and wrote down my drivers license info on a police report, they released me and would not tell me what the Fuck just happened.”

Checketts had the wherewithal to record the incident, at least until his phone’s memory maxed out and stopped recording. But the interaction was long enough to reveal the officers were less than forthcoming with their reasoning for detaining Checketts.

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One by one, Checketts took photos of all of the officers involved. They said they could not comment on their reasons for stopping him but told his friends he “matched the description” of a suspect they were looking for at the time.

Checketts identified the officers and described what he was doing in the moments leading up to what many of his friends are now calling legalized theft:

“San Diego Police Officer Daniel Riis, badge #6474, and Officer Robert Stinson felt it acceptable to detain me for no reason this morning. I had 2 Officers ask to talk to me while I was talking to 2 girls, friends of mine in town from sacramento, while minding my own business and doing nothing wrong.”

The young man told The Free Thought Project that he is innocent of any wrongdoing and added that he was never charged. He claimed he was simply stopped, detained, handcuffed, and had the cash taken from his wallet.

“No law broken. No reason for handcuffing me. No explanation whatsoever. This is asanine. Unacceptable. Untolerable. I want answers! I want an apology. The officers involved need to be suspended. Other parties took video of the whole incident. I will be launching an investigation and lawsuit. This will be made right!”

Checketts also questioned how what happened to him was legal if he had not been guilty of any wrongdoing.

“If I have done absolutely nothing wrong, how can police handcuff me, go through my person, take my money and give me no explanation. I called PD and was told by a supervisor sitting at his desk with his computer that he had no information to offer me and he hung up on me.”

He said his friends explained that what happened to him is called “civil asset forfeiture,” and is essentially legal theft by police of citizens’ property. As TFTP has reported, civil asset forfeiture is now responsible for stealing more possessions belonging to citizens than all US robberies combined.

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Still, Checketts said he does not understand how a police force can get away with it. We spoke to Checketts by phone, and he said he did not receive any paperwork from the officers following his encounter with them. Even after being released from handcuffs, he said “they still wouldn’t give me any information.”

He said he did speak with one of the plainclothes officers who detained him. “I should have received a call from the Lieutenant or someone who was over him not one of the detaining officers,” he said, noting that he found it completely inappropriate.

Checketts said he is going to file an official complaint soon. He told TFTP he doubts he fits any description of a “suspect” police were looking for that night. “If you look at me, you can know I wasn’t that person,” he insisted. “I have no criminal record whatsoever so they have no reason to put me in detainment.”

“I only have one eye. You probably don’t come in contact with someone who only has one eye. So, I’m sure if you had an accurate description, you’d know if it were me or not.”

Checketts says he doesn’t have enough money to even pay his rent now. His roommate had given him the money to pay the rent and said he forgot to deposit the money after work. That is why he says he had so much money with him when police contacted him. He does not know how he could possibly sue them, even though he would like to.

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“I didn’t have an eye on what they were doing. I tried turning around a couple of times to find out what was going on and no one would give me any information,” Checketts said.

He also said the police department called him and asked, “Which officer took your money?” to which he responded, “I’d really like to know that but I was detained and could not tell you which one did it.”

“I hope these officers get training or possibly suspension because they simply had no reason to put me in handcuffs,” Checketts concluded.

“City Erects Prison Camp Around Homeless”: Controlling Desperate People As Harsh Economic Times Hit

This article was written by Matt Agorist and originally published by The Free Thought Project.

Editor’s Comment: There are two major problems that come to mind – one, the level of homelessness, poverty and idle populations in California and across the country, and the divided world between the 1% and the struggling 99% is coming to a head. Economically, things are very close to the brink, and there are far too many people who’ve given up at the individual level. This crisis has given the impetus for cities like Santa Ana to take drastic action.

The other side of the coin, is that if they can do this to homeless vagrants, and out of work families, they can do it to anyone. If civil unrest comes, perhaps in combination with mass unemployment, a crashed stock market and monetary system and great misery, those keeping society in check will feel compelled to come down with a heavy hand. People will be rounded up, some of them unfairly. Entire communities can be disrupted, or forced under an emergency to evacuate and take shelter in FEMA centers while the cities become off limits. There are a lot of things that can happen – including to hard working, employment, head-above-water American families.

When this thing starts to unravel, making do in the current atmosphere won’t cut it; in the aftermath of what is coming, many people will be desperate. Tent cities and migrating Americans looking for temporary work will return; millions more will flock to government welfare programs, and be dragged into the dregs of collectivist measure to ride out bad times. They are moving to sweep up the disarray of a society that is crumbling, and a financial landscape that is no longer survivable for a wide sector of the general population.

City Erects Prison Camp To Deal With Homeless – Cutting Off Food And Water

by Matt Agorist

The City of Santa Ana has come up with an innovative and despotic way of keeping their homeless population in check — imprison them. The city is now party to a federal lawsuit over unreasonable seizure, false imprisonment, and due process violations.

Heading up the lawsuit on behalf of Michael Diehl, who has lived at the encampment for three years, is the ACLU of Southern California. The lawsuit demands the immediate removal of the 6-foot-tall chain-link fences penning in 75-100 people and their belongings.

“Defendants’ actions have not only illegally restricted the liberty of the homeless people living in the encampment, but it has also cut them off from access to food, water, and medical care thus threatening their health and well-being,” the lawsuit states.

According to Courthouse News:

Diehl was shot in the head at a Tustin convenience store in 2009. He lost his right eye and doctors were unable to remove the bullet from his head. He takes medication every day to control seizures that have become more frequent with the increased presence of authorities at the encampment, he says in the complaint.

When a woman suffered a seizure at the encampment after the fence was erected, Diehl says, paramedics had difficulty reaching her because the barriers have blocked parts of the sidewalks at Chapman Avenue and Orangewood Avenue where people used to come and go.

If people living at the encampment cut holes in the fences with bolt cutters, Orange County Public Works employees repair it. For the elderly and disabled it is neither safe nor realistic to scale the fence or navigate the river to get to a steep, rocky embankment on the river’s west side, Diehl says.

“Children, people with severe disabilities, the elderly and others are deprived of food, water and access to restrooms,” said ACLU homelessness policy analyst Eve Garrow. “The county should take action to rectify this egregious violation of basic human rights.”

Naturally, the county is claiming that they are not doing anything wrong and that the fence, put in place after the homeless community began growing there, is for ‘flood control.’

“The county is aware that there are homeless encampments in the project area. Flood control channels are not a safe place to live. Sign postings and in-person notifications about the project have been provided to those encamped along the county maintenance road,” the county said in a statement.

However, according to Diehl and the others who are imprisoned in the camp, police told them that they should move there to avoid citations for sleeping in public in the other parts of town.

What this case in Santa Ana illustrates is the state’s continued war on the right of people to exist. Every time a group homeless community finds a safe spot, located out of the way, they are targeted for removal, or, in this barbaric case — imprisonment.

Earlier this month, the Free Thought Project reported on another war being waged against the homeless population in California. Known as ‘The Promised Land,’ a group of homeless people in Oakland sought to improve their situation by creating a camp that would foster sobriety and help people to get jobs. It was located out of the way, under a series of overpasses. They had running water, were growing their own food, and did not allow drug or alcohol use within the camp.

As cops and officials allowed the other heroin riddled encampments to continue, they targeted The Promised Land for destruction. 

Diehl now seeks an injunction ordering the county to provide him with “reasonable means of leaving the riverbed and being able to retrieve his property.”

Matt Agorist is the co-founder of TheFreeThoughtProject.com, where this article first appeared. He is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world and now on Steemit.

This article was written by Matt Agorist and originally published by The Free Thought Project.