End Times Militia Hearing: Feds Say Ward Is Mentally Unstable

Eight suspected members of a Midwest Christian militia charged with conspiring to overthrow the government will have to wait until Friday to learn whether they'll be released before their trial.

Two local men, Kristopher Sickles, 27, of Sandusky and Jacob Ward, 33, of Huron, are among those facing charges.

While a U.S. attorney portrayed Sickles as a militia leader who expressed a desire to blow up the Huron Police Department, local police records involving Ward paint a picture of an increasingly paranoid man preoccupied with weapons...

Huron: Police Department Target Of Bomb Threat

HURON -- New information comes out of a bond hearing for suspected Hutaree militia members.

An undercover agent infiltrating the group reported back to investigators the so called "hard targets" on the attack list, even details of alleged animal killings to prepare for battle.

The Huron Police Department with 12 full time and 12 part time officers to protect eight thousand residents was identified as the bomb target in Ohio...

Ohio Militia Members Among Those Plotting Police Attacks

...Among those taken into custody, 27-year-old Kristopher Sickles of Sandusky and 33-year-old Jacob Ward of Huron.

Kristopher Sickle's wife told the Associated Press that her husband, a laid off sales associate at a local mall, occasionally trained with the militia but she says he had no knowledge of any plans to kill anyone or attack the U.S. government.

But U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder says the nine arrests have quote "dealt a severe blow to a dangerous organization that stands accused of conspiring to levy war against the United States."

Kristopher Sickles's wife says her husband and the other northeast Ohioan now under arrest, Jacob Ward, have known each other since childhood.

The AP says Ward's mother told Huron Police that family members took away his guns last summer because they thought he needed mental health treatment.

Police, Federal Agents In Raids In Sandusky, Huron

SANDUSKY and HURON

_{The Toledo Police Northwest Ohio Bomb Squad and a police dog unit from Cleveland's RTA were among those responding with the FBI Saturday, March 27, 2010, at Bayshore Estates in Sandusky. Register photo/SARAH WEBER}

A battalion of local officers and federal agents flooded the Bayshore Estates neighborhood Saturday afternoon.

A second raid was conducted in Huron. An FBI agent at the scene of the Bayshore Estates raid said a second, related raid was taking place at “another location.” Huron police confirmed late Saturday a raid had taken place in that city, but would say nothing more.

Likewise, FBI agents at the scene and at the Cleveland field office are staying mum on the cause of the commotion.

“We did make some arrests,” said special agent Scott Wilson of the FBI’s Cleveland office.

He said the warrants were sealed in federal court and he could not release any information until after the suspects appear in court Monday.

Sandusky Police, Erie County Sheriff’s deputies, agents from Toledo Police Bomb Squad and Cleveland Regional Transit Authority’s K9 Unit assisted at the scene.

Capt. Paul Sigsworth of the Erie County Sheriff’s office said he could not talk about the investigation.

Agents at Bayshore Estates yelled at residents to stay back at least a block from where they conducted the arrest on East Cedarwood Drive. Agents placed a handcuffed white male wearing a black shirt into a silver car.

Some officers in green uniforms carried large automatic rifles.

“We’re definitely in the dark,” said Terry Mills, who manages the trailer park with his wife, Barb.

A resident who asked her name not be used said she was reading in her living room when she heard sounds “like a semi” and a police radio, and looked outside to see two agents in FBI jackets crouching behind her car and more armed officers in her lawn.

She said an armored vehicle at the scene was one she’d seen earlier in the day on West Perkins Avenue.

The quiet east side neighborhood has seen its share of disturbances this year. It’s been the site of three total-loss trailer fires, one of which killed veteran John C. O’Reilly, 66, on New Year’s Day.

“It’s getting to be too much now,” Mills said.

He said he didn’t know who was arrested or why.