The Case Parade
In the prosecution of a major ring of domestic terrorists, defendants have repeatedly turned against their former comrades
HINESVILLE, Ga. 鈥� Confession upon confession, guilty plea upon guilty plea, the state of Georgia has methodically built its case against FEAR.
And what a strange case it has been.
Since teenage sweethearts Tiffany York and Michael Roark were found shot to death in a knot of woods near the Fort Stewart Army base here a few weeks before Christmas 2011, 11 people 鈥� mostly active-duty and recently discharged soldiers 鈥� have been arrested. There have been six guilty pleas to every aspect of the gang鈥檚 short but violent existence: murder, burglary, drugs, destroying evidence.
There was the guilty plea of Christopher 鈥淛elly鈥� Jenderseck, an Army medic, who built a roaring bonfire the night after the murders. The gang used the flames to consume evidence, including clothes splattered with blood and brain matter. Jenderseck pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence and like everyone else agreed to testify against his former comrades.
There was Timothy Joiner, a recently returned Iraq war veteran and 鈥減roud Republican,鈥� as he told The Associated Press before his arrest.
And there was Randall Blake Dearman, Joiner鈥檚 civilian partner in crime. Together they broke into houses and cars, stealing guns, television sets, tools, first aid supplies, a GPS device, a military Kevlar vest and a motorcycle helmet.
They did it with the hope of raising enough money to bail Dearman鈥檚 older brother, Adam, out of jail in northern Georgia, where he was being held for a near-fatal shooting. The elder Dearman is an alleged leader of FEAR but had nothing to do with the murder of the teenagers.
In Iraq, Joiner had been a prison interrogator. Now he was on the other side of the grilling. Isabel Pauley, the prosecutor, told the judge, Robert L. Russell III, that this was Joiner鈥檚 first offense.
鈥淲ell, all I can say鈥� Russell said, 鈥渋s you made up for lost time, I guess, Mr. Joiner, to do 30, 33 major felonies in a couple of days.鈥�
And there was Jeff Roberts, who essentially pleaded guilty to being the personal drug dealer for FEAR. He told the FBI that he provided the gang $10,000 to $15,000 worth of cocaine, marijuana and ecstasy in a three- to four-week period not long before the killing in the woods.
He later feared the gang was going to kill him.
鈥淚鈥檓 just regretful that I met these people,鈥� Roberts told the court. 鈥淎nd I鈥檓 going to suffer for it for the rest of my life.鈥�
The plea parade began with Pfc. Michael Burnett. He is one of the four active-duty soldiers arrested and charged with the murder of York, 17, and Roark, 19, a recently discharged soldier who served with the men at Fort Stewart.
In shackles and shame, Burnett told the court in the last days of August 2012 how sorry he was that he had gone into the woods with his three buddies and stood by while the two teenagers were slaughtered to keep secret, prosecutors say, FEAR鈥檚 delusional, megalomaniacal plans for terror and revolution. Roark had once been part of the group.
Burnett told the judge he would have stopped the killing if he could have. Brenda Thomas, the mother of Tiffany York, and Brett Roark, the father of Michael Roark, were in the courtroom that day. The remark outraged them both. Thomas shouted out, 鈥淵ou could have.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檓 never going to have closure,鈥� Thomas told the聽Intelligence Report. 鈥淎nd I鈥檓 never going to understand how the military allowed this to happen.鈥�
On July 19, the gang鈥檚 ringleader, Pvt. Isaac Aguigui, became the sixth member to plead guilty. He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
Now there is almost nothing left to FEAR.
鈥擠on Terry
