HAMMOND | Hammond truck driver Thomas W. Piatek told a judge Monday he doesn't understand why he was charged alongside eight other alleged members of a Michigan-based extremist Christian militia accused of plotting to kill police officers and make war with the U.S. government.
"What they're alleging and what I've done are two different things," Piatek said in Hammond federal court.
Piatek, 46, of Hammond's Robertsdale neighborhood, was arrested Sunday in Clarendon Hills, Ill., in a multistate FBI-led operation targeting the Hutaree, a Detroit-area militant group whose members have armed themselves and trained for a prophesied battle with the Antichrist. Piatek, who attended Clark High School in Hammond, remains in Hammond City Jail pending a hearing Wednesday to determine whether he will be transferred to Michigan to face the charges...
