1 00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:06,560 Speaker 1: Coozo Media. 2 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:11,280 Speaker 2: On October fourteenth, twenty seventeen, the Battle of Cedar Greek 3 00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:16,000 Speaker 2: was happening all over again. Originally fought on October nineteenth, 4 00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:19,720 Speaker 2: eighteen sixty four, the crushing defeat meant Confederate troops could 5 00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:22,560 Speaker 2: no longer maneuver through the Shenandoah Valley to march on Washington, 6 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:25,040 Speaker 2: and the Union victory was the last minute boost for 7 00:00:25,079 --> 00:00:29,240 Speaker 2: Lincoln's reelection campaign one hundred and fifty three years later, 8 00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:32,479 Speaker 2: as reenactors in Middletown, Virginia milled around in their historically 9 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:35,440 Speaker 2: accurate wool uniforms and replica weaponry waiting for the battle 10 00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:39,040 Speaker 2: to begin, one of them found an alarming anachronism in 11 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:45,560 Speaker 2: the sutler's tent, a pipe bomb. I'm Mollykonger, and this 12 00:00:46,280 --> 00:01:05,400 Speaker 2: is weird, little guys. The Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation has 13 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:08,160 Speaker 2: held their annual re enactment of the battle since nineteen ninety, 14 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:12,000 Speaker 2: but twenty seventeen was a politically fraught time in America. 15 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:15,640 Speaker 2: On August twelfth, twenty seventeen, the United the Right rally 16 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:18,600 Speaker 2: in Charlesville, Virginia ended when a young rally attendee who 17 00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:21,399 Speaker 2: kept a framed picture of Adolf Hitler on his nightstand, 18 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:24,479 Speaker 2: ran his car through a crowd of peaceful protesters marching 19 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:28,600 Speaker 2: on a closed street. He injured dozens and killed Heather Hire. 20 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:33,160 Speaker 2: Images of the crowd that day, with rally attendees carrying 21 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:38,039 Speaker 2: Confederate flags and swastikas side by side, flooded the national consciousness. 22 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:42,720 Speaker 2: Most Americans heard the word antifa for the first time. 23 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:47,080 Speaker 2: That week, the national conversation about Confederate monuments, which had 24 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:52,800 Speaker 2: been simmering all year, boiled over. The city council in Baltimore, Maryland, 25 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:55,440 Speaker 2: voted to remove their Confederate statues just two days later. 26 00:01:56,320 --> 00:01:58,680 Speaker 2: The same week, the mayor of Lexington, Kentucky, asked his 27 00:01:58,720 --> 00:02:00,880 Speaker 2: city council to approve the rows removal of the statues 28 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:04,640 Speaker 2: at their courthouse. The Confederate monument in Hollywood Forever Cemetery 29 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:09,239 Speaker 2: in LA was removed overnight. From Florida to California, Confederate 30 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:14,000 Speaker 2: monuments were removed, toppled, and vandalized. No one wanted to 31 00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:18,720 Speaker 2: be the next Charlottesville. Six days after the rally, officials 32 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:21,320 Speaker 2: in Manassas, a small city outside of DC about two 33 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:24,200 Speaker 2: hours north of Charlottesville, announced they were calling off the 34 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:27,280 Speaker 2: annual Civil War Reenactment Weekend scheduled for the end of August. 35 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:31,560 Speaker 2: The Washington Posts reported that the reenactors themselves were worried 36 00:02:31,720 --> 00:02:35,320 Speaker 2: the quote racially charged atmosphere around the country over whether 37 00:02:35,360 --> 00:02:40,200 Speaker 2: to remove Civil War monuments would lead to violence. So 38 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:43,000 Speaker 2: the concern was not whether it was appropriate to continue 39 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:45,960 Speaker 2: celebrating the Confederacy in the wake of the deadly rally, 40 00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:51,320 Speaker 2: but rather anxiety about the possibility that Antifa America's new 41 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 2: black clad boogeyman would target these events. And these growing 42 00:02:56,600 --> 00:03:00,120 Speaker 2: fears of persecution from the radical left were confirmed on 43 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:03,640 Speaker 2: September twenty third, when the Cedar Greek Battlefield Foundation received 44 00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:07,799 Speaker 2: an ominous letter in the mail. Instead of a return haddress, 45 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:10,480 Speaker 2: the envelope bore a symbol that was fresh in their minds, 46 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:15,800 Speaker 2: a black circle containing a black flag overlaying a red flag. 47 00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:23,079 Speaker 2: It was from Antifa. The letter inside read, you. 48 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:25,799 Speaker 3: Need to cancel your coming up celebration of the Civil 49 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:30,320 Speaker 3: War on October thirteen, fourteen fifteen, twenty seventeen. If you 50 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:33,440 Speaker 3: choose to continue with this farce of history that clearly 51 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:36,720 Speaker 3: celebrates the war to keep African Americans in chains, then 52 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:39,400 Speaker 3: we have no choice but to come in protest. We 53 00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:42,200 Speaker 3: will come and disrupt and cause problems for all those 54 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:45,600 Speaker 3: who attend the atrocity of history. Several hundred of our 55 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:49,960 Speaker 3: supporters will attend and slash tires, block traffic, harassed patrons 56 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:54,160 Speaker 3: and reenactors. We will make Charlottesville look like a Sunday picnic. 57 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:57,480 Speaker 3: Many of us have dogs, so we'll bring dog feces 58 00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:00,040 Speaker 3: to throw on people. We will also throw cups of 59 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:03,200 Speaker 3: human urine. We might resort to actually firing guns into 60 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:05,520 Speaker 3: the camps and at the re enactors. We will put 61 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:08,120 Speaker 3: poison in the water. We will use noise to disrupt 62 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:11,600 Speaker 3: the battles in sleep. These events must stop. Our local 63 00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:14,160 Speaker 3: organizer tells us he is ready to go. You have 64 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:17,160 Speaker 3: been warned. Now. If it is not called off, we 65 00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:19,920 Speaker 3: will destroy you. You have less than one month to 66 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:22,479 Speaker 3: issue a cancelation notice to it asap. 67 00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:28,680 Speaker 2: Days before the event in October, the Cedar Creek Battlefield 68 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:32,240 Speaker 2: Foundation did announce publicly that they had received a threatening letter, 69 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 2: but that the event would go on with increased security, 70 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:38,200 Speaker 2: and the details of the threat were not released, but 71 00:04:38,279 --> 00:04:42,320 Speaker 2: speculation immediately turned to the culture war, and after the 72 00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:45,919 Speaker 2: bomb was discovered, The National Review wrote The simplest and 73 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:49,200 Speaker 2: most logical explanation is that this is a new, violent 74 00:04:49,279 --> 00:04:53,680 Speaker 2: extension of the effort to remove Confederate statues. The Federalists 75 00:04:53,720 --> 00:04:56,880 Speaker 2: lamented that history itself was becoming another casualty in the 76 00:04:56,880 --> 00:05:00,920 Speaker 2: culture war. The threatening letters continue for over a year, 77 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:06,080 Speaker 2: becoming increasingly gruesome and terrifyingly specific, targeting members of the 78 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 2: board at Cedar Creek and their family members. Cedar Creek 79 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:14,040 Speaker 2: had to cancel the reenactment in twenty eighteen after one 80 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:16,440 Speaker 2: director of the foundation resigned in fear for his family 81 00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:18,599 Speaker 2: safety when the letter writer threatened to put a bomb 82 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:21,919 Speaker 2: under his mother's car. The new director started getting threats 83 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:26,040 Speaker 2: of sexual violence against her young daughters. The mayor of 84 00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:29,000 Speaker 2: Gettysburg received a letter threatening to bomb the annual Gettysburg 85 00:05:29,080 --> 00:05:34,920 Speaker 2: Remembrance Day parade. Would Antifa stop at nothing to destroy history? 86 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:40,640 Speaker 2: But it wasn't Antifa. It wasn't Antifa at all. 87 00:05:40,760 --> 00:05:41,560 Speaker 3: It was Gerald. 88 00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:46,760 Speaker 2: Gerald Leonard Drake born in nineteen fifty eight in Michigan, 89 00:05:47,480 --> 00:05:51,559 Speaker 2: loves the Civil War. In nineteen ninety six, his hometown paper, 90 00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:54,200 Speaker 2: The port here In Times, Harold wrote an article about 91 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:57,760 Speaker 2: his dedication to reenactment. He'd gotten a second job to 92 00:05:57,760 --> 00:05:59,760 Speaker 2: save up the ten thousand dollars it would cost him 93 00:05:59,760 --> 00:06:02,239 Speaker 2: to try and sport Judith his five hundred and twenty 94 00:06:02,279 --> 00:06:06,160 Speaker 2: five pound replica Civil War canon from Michigan to Columbus, 95 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:11,000 Speaker 2: Georgia for the Chattahoochee Heritage Festival. Judith the Canon was 96 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:14,680 Speaker 2: named after his wife, Judy, who would file for divorce 97 00:06:14,839 --> 00:06:18,719 Speaker 2: the following year. When he married his third wife, Donna 98 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:21,839 Speaker 2: in twenty ten, they took wedding photos in Civil War 99 00:06:21,880 --> 00:06:24,800 Speaker 2: era address at the historic Adams County Courthouse in Gettysburg. 100 00:06:25,960 --> 00:06:29,200 Speaker 2: They got two cats and named them Shiloh and Musket. 101 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:34,760 Speaker 2: But the world was changing. The world of eighteen sixty 102 00:06:34,839 --> 00:06:38,440 Speaker 2: falls further away every day, no matter how historically accurate 103 00:06:38,440 --> 00:06:42,120 Speaker 2: the brass buttons on your coat are. In twenty eleven, 104 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:44,479 Speaker 2: he posted a thread on a Civil War reenactment forum 105 00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:48,560 Speaker 2: about a living history event he'd recently participated in a 106 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:51,520 Speaker 2: tour group. Was appalled that the re enactors, role playing 107 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:54,719 Speaker 2: as soldiers reading aloud letters from home, read a letter 108 00:06:54,800 --> 00:06:57,600 Speaker 2: describing the brutal whipping of an enslaved person that was 109 00:06:57,800 --> 00:07:01,600 Speaker 2: riddled with racial slurs. Though he felt that the event 110 00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:05,880 Speaker 2: itself went well, he wrote that shit hit the fan afterwards, 111 00:07:05,960 --> 00:07:09,200 Speaker 2: and the liberals in the group had a bitch session 112 00:07:09,520 --> 00:07:11,400 Speaker 2: about appropriate language. 113 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:17,160 Speaker 3: I guess what I'm asking here is, as living historians 114 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:19,600 Speaker 3: and reenactors, aren't we supposed to do as good of 115 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:22,600 Speaker 3: a job and impression of our ancestors as we possibly can. 116 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:25,040 Speaker 3: We used to get praise and accolades for doing a 117 00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:27,920 Speaker 3: great first person impression. Let me know if anyone else 118 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:29,760 Speaker 3: is having this kind of trouble for being the best 119 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:30,200 Speaker 3: you can be. 120 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:36,320 Speaker 2: Surprisingly, even in twenty eleven, fellow users on the Civil 121 00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:40,920 Speaker 2: War message board disagreed with Gerald their reenactment groups is 122 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:44,760 Speaker 2: committed as they were to historical accuracy, did not use 123 00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:49,000 Speaker 2: the N word. One user, whose profile bears the badge 124 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:51,960 Speaker 2: for Member of the Year wrote that he is quote 125 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:55,640 Speaker 2: careful to avoid certain language in terms, always realizing that 126 00:07:55,680 --> 00:07:58,360 Speaker 2: my performance is in the present century to modern day 127 00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:01,920 Speaker 2: folks who live in the present would not understand the customs, practices, 128 00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:04,480 Speaker 2: and language of the nineteenth century with any real clarity. 129 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:08,440 Speaker 2: Another user, a former moderator of the forum, replied to 130 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:10,480 Speaker 2: a comment from Drake that he was looking for a 131 00:08:10,760 --> 00:08:14,680 Speaker 2: less PC group, wrote that he can't imagine there is 132 00:08:14,840 --> 00:08:17,560 Speaker 2: any group out there that would condone that kind of language, 133 00:08:17,720 --> 00:08:21,720 Speaker 2: and all this achieves is bad publicity for reenactors, adding 134 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:24,520 Speaker 2: that those tourists surely all went home that day and 135 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:27,280 Speaker 2: told their friends about the racists they saw at the event. 136 00:08:28,680 --> 00:08:30,960 Speaker 2: A year later, Drake posted again in the same Civil 137 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:33,760 Speaker 2: War forum, complaining that people are getting too hung up 138 00:08:33,800 --> 00:08:37,720 Speaker 2: on safety, writing remember when reenacting used to be fun 139 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:41,000 Speaker 2: and mourning the old days when battle reenactments were more 140 00:08:41,080 --> 00:08:45,720 Speaker 2: like real battle Again. Fellow reenactors pushed back, with one 141 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:49,600 Speaker 2: veteran reenactor writing that he did indeed remember those days. 142 00:08:50,120 --> 00:08:52,760 Speaker 2: He'd once had a costume ruined and gotten pretty serious 143 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:55,800 Speaker 2: burns when another reenactor shot him with a replica shotgun. 144 00:08:57,040 --> 00:09:01,000 Speaker 2: Even in his chosen community of Civil War reenactors, Gerald 145 00:09:01,040 --> 00:09:02,680 Speaker 2: was living in a version of the past that was 146 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:08,320 Speaker 2: becoming increasingly lonely. In October of twenty fourteen, things really 147 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:11,800 Speaker 2: started to fall apart. His third marriage was on the rocks, 148 00:09:12,679 --> 00:09:16,080 Speaker 2: and after what sounds like a pretty petty dispute, Gerald 149 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:19,880 Speaker 2: was kicked out of his Civil War reenactment unit. As 150 00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:22,160 Speaker 2: a volunteer at the Cedar Creek Battlefield. He'd heard a 151 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:24,760 Speaker 2: rumor that someone was planning to sneak into the reenactment 152 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:29,720 Speaker 2: without paying the registration fee. Gerald and his friend and 153 00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:33,400 Speaker 2: fellow reenactor Daryl, found this to be an outrageous offense 154 00:09:33,679 --> 00:09:36,840 Speaker 2: and decided to print up flyers letting everyone know that 155 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:39,480 Speaker 2: Duffy Miller wasn't going to pay his entry fee and 156 00:09:39,559 --> 00:09:43,960 Speaker 2: anyone who sees him should stop him. Duffy Miller, as 157 00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:47,160 Speaker 2: it turns out, was their unit commander, and he was 158 00:09:47,679 --> 00:09:51,240 Speaker 2: not pleased to see the posters. He kicks Gerald and 159 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:56,120 Speaker 2: Daryl out of the unit. Jerald continued volunteering at Cedar Creek, 160 00:09:56,240 --> 00:09:58,160 Speaker 2: but it seems this incident was the end of his 161 00:09:58,280 --> 00:09:59,320 Speaker 2: love for reenacting. 162 00:10:00,679 --> 00:10:00,839 Speaker 3: Now. 163 00:10:00,880 --> 00:10:03,520 Speaker 2: I can't find exactly how much it cost to register 164 00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:06,200 Speaker 2: for the event in twenty fourteen, but the twenty twenty 165 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:08,880 Speaker 2: four registration fee is thirty five dollars, and I know 166 00:10:08,920 --> 00:10:11,599 Speaker 2: from the forum post that's actually been increased in the 167 00:10:11,679 --> 00:10:14,400 Speaker 2: last couple of years to cover the new security measures 168 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:17,000 Speaker 2: that they have to have, so you have to assume 169 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:21,520 Speaker 2: it was much less ten years ago. So the inciting 170 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:24,800 Speaker 2: incident for this entire debacle was a couple of old 171 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:29,720 Speaker 2: guys fighting about twenty bucks and the sanctity of Confederate reenactment. 172 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:34,160 Speaker 2: I guess, so what's a guy to do now? First 173 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:36,600 Speaker 2: they stop letting him say the N word, You're not 174 00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:39,559 Speaker 2: even allowed to shoot each other anymore, and now he's 175 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:42,800 Speaker 2: kicked out of his unit Entirely a hobby he'd loved 176 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:47,000 Speaker 2: since the early nineties was being ruined. They weren't saying 177 00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:50,480 Speaker 2: like wokeness back then, But I think if this happened today, 178 00:10:50,559 --> 00:10:53,280 Speaker 2: Gerald would say that it was being ruined by woke 179 00:10:55,080 --> 00:10:57,199 Speaker 2: He'd been left by three wives and now his own 180 00:10:57,240 --> 00:11:00,800 Speaker 2: civil war unit didn't want him around. But he continued 181 00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:05,600 Speaker 2: volunteering at Cedar Creek. He retired, He built and painted 182 00:11:05,640 --> 00:11:10,280 Speaker 2: little models, got into model rockets, He traveled the world, 183 00:11:11,280 --> 00:11:16,360 Speaker 2: and he posted a lot, and apparently he held on 184 00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:18,679 Speaker 2: to his anger about that incident at the twenty fourteen 185 00:11:18,760 --> 00:11:22,400 Speaker 2: Cedar Creek reenactment. I spent a lot of time combing 186 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:25,920 Speaker 2: through hundreds of pages of court documents, years and years 187 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:28,880 Speaker 2: of his posts on forums, But I can't quite sort 188 00:11:28,880 --> 00:11:32,800 Speaker 2: out what the catalyst was in twenty seventeen. Why did 189 00:11:32,840 --> 00:11:36,319 Speaker 2: he wait three years to put that bomb at Cedar Creek. 190 00:11:37,400 --> 00:11:40,320 Speaker 2: Maybe he saw the news about the Manassas reenactment getting canceled. 191 00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:42,200 Speaker 2: Out of fear of political violence at the wake up 192 00:11:42,240 --> 00:11:46,400 Speaker 2: Unite the Right and just got an idea because within 193 00:11:46,480 --> 00:11:53,439 Speaker 2: weeks of that news story, Gerald started writing letters. After 194 00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:56,400 Speaker 2: his first letter to the Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation in September, 195 00:11:56,840 --> 00:11:59,280 Speaker 2: he followed up by placing an actual bomb at the 196 00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:04,960 Speaker 2: event in October. The reenactment community is pretty small, and 197 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:09,120 Speaker 2: the pipe bomb was big news, but a rumor was 198 00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:12,199 Speaker 2: going around on Facebook that a teenager had been arrested 199 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:15,200 Speaker 2: for the original letter, and then that was sort of conflated. 200 00:12:15,400 --> 00:12:17,760 Speaker 2: As you know, people are posting and reposting and talking 201 00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:20,520 Speaker 2: about the post that they saw. It was conflated to 202 00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:23,600 Speaker 2: the idea that someone had been arrested for the bomb, 203 00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:27,480 Speaker 2: and the rumor was very quickly disproven. No one was 204 00:12:27,559 --> 00:12:30,800 Speaker 2: arrested replacing the bomb in the vendor's tent, but the 205 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:34,800 Speaker 2: letter writer was frustrated. If they thought the culprit had 206 00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:39,600 Speaker 2: been apprehended, they wouldn't be afraid anymore. John Buchheister, a 207 00:12:39,679 --> 00:12:41,600 Speaker 2: vendor at the event who told a reporter that he 208 00:12:41,640 --> 00:12:44,000 Speaker 2: was present when the bomb was found, was one of 209 00:12:44,040 --> 00:12:47,240 Speaker 2: the posters in that Facebook rumor mill and there's nothing 210 00:12:47,280 --> 00:12:50,360 Speaker 2: malicious here. He just reposted something that someone else had 211 00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:54,000 Speaker 2: said that the would be bomber had been apprehended. I 212 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:56,319 Speaker 2: think there was a lot of relief in believing that, 213 00:12:56,360 --> 00:12:59,080 Speaker 2: so a lot of people were posting it. But I 214 00:12:59,080 --> 00:13:02,760 Speaker 2: guess our letter writer saw John Buchheister's post, because on 215 00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:06,199 Speaker 2: November thirteenth, twenty seventeen, he opened a letter addressed to 216 00:13:06,280 --> 00:13:10,360 Speaker 2: his home in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Like the first letter, the 217 00:13:10,480 --> 00:13:12,760 Speaker 2: envelope was printed with the ANTIFA symbol in place of 218 00:13:12,760 --> 00:13:17,280 Speaker 2: a return address. Inside a typed letter read. 219 00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:22,880 Speaker 3: Thank you so much for putting on Facebook that a 220 00:13:22,920 --> 00:13:25,439 Speaker 3: teenager was arrested for the threat to see her creek. 221 00:13:25,920 --> 00:13:28,160 Speaker 3: It was so much easier to bring in a bomb. 222 00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:31,360 Speaker 3: Do something like this again for us. We are coming 223 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:34,640 Speaker 3: to the Gettysburg parade and speech. Thank you again for 224 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:36,679 Speaker 3: all your help in the last terror event. 225 00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:42,199 Speaker 2: That same week, a local newspaper in Gettysburg received a 226 00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:46,720 Speaker 2: letter threatening the upcoming Gettysburg Remembrance Day parade. The letter 227 00:13:46,760 --> 00:13:49,040 Speaker 2: threatened to drive trucks through the crowd at the parade, 228 00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:52,360 Speaker 2: a troubling callback to the still recent vehicular murderer Unite 229 00:13:52,360 --> 00:13:56,160 Speaker 2: the Right, and threatened to put sharpshooters in windows and 230 00:13:56,200 --> 00:14:00,280 Speaker 2: on rooftops. The letter writer ended the note by giving 231 00:14:00,320 --> 00:14:03,560 Speaker 2: a detailed description of the bomb at Cedar Creek quote 232 00:14:03,720 --> 00:14:06,600 Speaker 2: for proof that we did the Cedar Creek terror attack. 233 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:10,800 Speaker 2: But just as Cedar Creek had not canceled when they 234 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:14,480 Speaker 2: were threatened, the Gettysburg Rememberance Day parade was not canceled 235 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:17,640 Speaker 2: that year, but the route was significantly shortened to allow 236 00:14:17,679 --> 00:14:21,920 Speaker 2: for a heavy police presence. As Chris Anders, a Republican 237 00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:26,120 Speaker 2: political activist, wrote on Facebook, apparently Antifa and other hate 238 00:14:26,120 --> 00:14:28,680 Speaker 2: groups are headed to try and cause problems this Saturday 239 00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:32,080 Speaker 2: at the annual Remembrance Day parade, but he wrote that 240 00:14:32,160 --> 00:14:34,320 Speaker 2: he would be marching with his brothers in Gray rather 241 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:38,120 Speaker 2: than giving in to terrorists. There are nearly one hundred 242 00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:41,280 Speaker 2: comments on this Facebook post, mostly agreeing that Dantifa must 243 00:14:41,320 --> 00:14:45,560 Speaker 2: be stopped or offering questionable safety tips, like advising that 244 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:48,640 Speaker 2: you should use a wool scarf to protect yourself from teargas. 245 00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:52,440 Speaker 2: I have to assume that would only make things worse. 246 00:14:52,920 --> 00:14:57,760 Speaker 2: I feel like wool is very absorbent. But one loan commenter, 247 00:14:57,920 --> 00:14:59,960 Speaker 2: a reenactor from New England who rides with the First 248 00:15:00,240 --> 00:15:05,680 Speaker 2: Main Cavalry, got a different theory. He wrote, I bet 249 00:15:05,720 --> 00:15:08,640 Speaker 2: you five dollars that the perpetrator is a reenactor or 250 00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:12,720 Speaker 2: former reenactor. No offense to anyone, but no one knows 251 00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:16,280 Speaker 2: about rem Day beyond reenactors and locals. For it to 252 00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:18,520 Speaker 2: be a target, someone would have to be aware of it, 253 00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:22,160 Speaker 2: and there are plenty of other high profile, low security 254 00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:26,840 Speaker 2: events with bigger crowd numbers to choose. From his comment, 255 00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:29,600 Speaker 2: drew ire from the victimized confederates obsessed with the idea 256 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:33,240 Speaker 2: of a massive conspiracy from the radical left. He was, 257 00:15:33,280 --> 00:15:50,360 Speaker 2: of course correct. And now here's where things start to 258 00:15:50,360 --> 00:15:55,320 Speaker 2: get really weird. Just some truly inexplicable behavior with deep 259 00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:58,840 Speaker 2: weird roots. I mean, I guess that's the show, right, 260 00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:01,920 Speaker 2: This guy's weird. But here's where it takes its super 261 00:16:01,920 --> 00:16:06,400 Speaker 2: weird turn. Gerald is retired at this point, and when 262 00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:09,960 Speaker 2: he's not traveling, he's volunteering. He's still volunteering at Cedar 263 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:12,840 Speaker 2: Creek even though he doesn't reenact anymore, but he's also 264 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:17,360 Speaker 2: volunteering at sky Meadows State Park. It's not entirely clear 265 00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:20,040 Speaker 2: why a registered sex offender was allowed to volunteer at 266 00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:23,160 Speaker 2: the state park alongside a high school student, but that's 267 00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:25,000 Speaker 2: what it says in the affidavit. So I guess that 268 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:28,000 Speaker 2: one fell through the cracks at sky Meadows because while 269 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:30,600 Speaker 2: he did successfully petition to get himself removed from the 270 00:16:30,640 --> 00:16:34,240 Speaker 2: sex offender registry in twenty twenty one, in twenty eighteen, 271 00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:38,600 Speaker 2: the background check required for volunteers at state parks would 272 00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:40,880 Speaker 2: have shown that he was a registered sex offender for 273 00:16:40,880 --> 00:16:44,360 Speaker 2: a two thousand and four conviction in Ohio for sexual 274 00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:49,920 Speaker 2: imposition and child endangerment. And again, I'll be so clear 275 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:53,080 Speaker 2: with you right up front, there's no allegation that Drake 276 00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:58,040 Speaker 2: was involved in any inappropriate sexual conduct as a volunteer anywhere, 277 00:16:58,160 --> 00:17:00,520 Speaker 2: not at the state park, not anywhere in the time 278 00:17:00,560 --> 00:17:04,760 Speaker 2: period of these events. There's no allegation that he's touching 279 00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:09,399 Speaker 2: any children or engaging in any inappropriate sexual conduct. But 280 00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:11,520 Speaker 2: I'm not just telling you he's a registered sex offender 281 00:17:11,920 --> 00:17:15,720 Speaker 2: to sort of point and laugh at that. As a circumstance, 282 00:17:16,280 --> 00:17:21,199 Speaker 2: these things intersect. So in twenty eighteen, he's volunteering at 283 00:17:21,200 --> 00:17:24,320 Speaker 2: the park with this teenage boy, and one afternoon in 284 00:17:24,320 --> 00:17:27,159 Speaker 2: February they're volunteering together. They're shooting the shit fill in 285 00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:30,560 Speaker 2: the time and Gerald, who is sixty at this point, 286 00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:33,359 Speaker 2: is telling this teenage boy about his hobby of Civil 287 00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:38,080 Speaker 2: war reenactment, which is very tragically in decline. The topic 288 00:17:38,119 --> 00:17:40,720 Speaker 2: of the twenty seventeen reenactment at Cedar Creek comes up. 289 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:44,720 Speaker 2: I have to assume Gerald brought it up, because why 290 00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:46,959 Speaker 2: would the seventeen year old boy have brought that up? 291 00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:50,480 Speaker 2: But Gerald is telling the kid about some funny articles 292 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:54,680 Speaker 2: about that twenty seventeen event. He later emailed the teenager 293 00:17:54,720 --> 00:17:58,440 Speaker 2: what appeared to be photographs of newspaper clippings about the bombing. 294 00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:04,600 Speaker 2: These these articles, the bomb went off. The articles he 295 00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:09,439 Speaker 2: emails this teenager contained details of the bomb actually killing people, 296 00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:14,560 Speaker 2: with more deaths caused by subsequent sniper fire. But we 297 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:17,720 Speaker 2: know the bomb didn't really go off. No one got shot, 298 00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:23,560 Speaker 2: no one got hurt, nothing really happened. The articles he 299 00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:27,600 Speaker 2: showed his young friend were completely fake. The federal agents 300 00:18:27,600 --> 00:18:30,159 Speaker 2: investigating the case wrote that attempts to locate sources for 301 00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:33,800 Speaker 2: these fake newspaper clippings turned up nothing. I mean, not 302 00:18:33,880 --> 00:18:37,919 Speaker 2: even anything online showing these fake articles. Just nothing. 303 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:38,560 Speaker 3: There's nothing. 304 00:18:38,760 --> 00:18:42,919 Speaker 2: He must have made them himself, and that's where his 305 00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:46,520 Speaker 2: sex offender status ties back in. In two thousand and three, 306 00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:51,040 Speaker 2: he was indicted in Auglaize County, Ohio for gross sexual imposition, 307 00:18:52,280 --> 00:18:56,520 Speaker 2: and shortly after he's indicted, someone starts sending weird letters 308 00:18:56,560 --> 00:19:00,359 Speaker 2: to the Auglaize County prosecutor. The letters were made to 309 00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:02,159 Speaker 2: appear as though they were sent by a member of 310 00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:05,200 Speaker 2: the police department in Drake's hometown of Port here On, Michigan, 311 00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:09,520 Speaker 2: and they appeared to prove that Drake's second wife was 312 00:19:09,560 --> 00:19:14,000 Speaker 2: a child abuser. The letter writer sent a forged polygraph 313 00:19:14,040 --> 00:19:17,840 Speaker 2: report on Michigan State Police letterhead and a forged notarized 314 00:19:17,840 --> 00:19:21,480 Speaker 2: statement from Drake's estranged wife, and when his home was 315 00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:25,680 Speaker 2: eventually searched, police found a doctored page from the local newspaper. 316 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:30,520 Speaker 2: He had taken an actual newspaper and manually altered it 317 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:33,560 Speaker 2: with a false news story about his estranged second wife, Susan, 318 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:38,000 Speaker 2: pleading guilty to child abuse and endangerment. No such news 319 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:40,399 Speaker 2: story ever existed, and I can find no evidence that 320 00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:44,040 Speaker 2: Susan was ever charged with such a crime. Maybe a 321 00:19:44,040 --> 00:19:47,840 Speaker 2: more thorough journalist would have pushed harder for the details here, 322 00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:51,040 Speaker 2: but court cases involving sexual abuse of a minor tend 323 00:19:51,119 --> 00:19:55,320 Speaker 2: to be completely closed. Those documents are sealed unless someone 324 00:19:55,359 --> 00:19:57,919 Speaker 2: was sitting in those hearings, and there's local news reports 325 00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:00,600 Speaker 2: about the testimony. You're just you're not to find it, 326 00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:04,440 Speaker 2: and short of reaching out to the parties involved, there's 327 00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:07,240 Speaker 2: no way for me to know exactly what led to 328 00:20:07,359 --> 00:20:11,199 Speaker 2: Gerald Drake being convicted of sexual imposition and child endangerment 329 00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:14,119 Speaker 2: or why he tried to frame his strange wife for it. 330 00:20:15,400 --> 00:20:18,160 Speaker 2: But I can tell you that after his conviction there's 331 00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:20,560 Speaker 2: a note on the docket that the judge prohibited Drake 332 00:20:20,600 --> 00:20:23,840 Speaker 2: from contacting his second ex wife and her minor daughter 333 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:26,520 Speaker 2: from a prior marriage. So I think we can get 334 00:20:26,600 --> 00:20:29,880 Speaker 2: the gist of the situation without me asking a young 335 00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:32,679 Speaker 2: woman why her stepdad, a man now in prison for 336 00:20:32,760 --> 00:20:36,040 Speaker 2: making a bomb, was court ordered to stay away from 337 00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:38,800 Speaker 2: her when she was ten. Take from that way you 338 00:20:38,840 --> 00:20:42,440 Speaker 2: will the relevant kernel of that story, though, is those 339 00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:46,879 Speaker 2: fake newspaper articles. In two thousand and three, he's manually 340 00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:50,879 Speaker 2: cutting and pasting by hand and xeroxing his creations to 341 00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:55,160 Speaker 2: disguise the alterations. He's arts and craftsing his way into 342 00:20:55,160 --> 00:20:57,600 Speaker 2: an alternate reality where his ex wife is the one 343 00:20:57,600 --> 00:21:01,560 Speaker 2: in endangering children, not him, And in twenty eighteen he's 344 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:04,600 Speaker 2: doing it again. He's making fake newspaper clippings about what 345 00:21:04,680 --> 00:21:08,560 Speaker 2: he wishes were real. He's showing this teenage boy a 346 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:11,320 Speaker 2: reality where the bomb did go off and the people 347 00:21:11,359 --> 00:21:15,280 Speaker 2: who snubbed him died. And while he was in jail 348 00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:17,760 Speaker 2: for that sex offense a short eight months in Ohio 349 00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:23,480 Speaker 2: County jail, he made another art project of sorts. In 350 00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:26,600 Speaker 2: September two thousand four, the Auglais County Sheriff's office reached 351 00:21:26,600 --> 00:21:30,600 Speaker 2: out to the FBI Field office in Cleveland. Gerald had 352 00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:32,960 Speaker 2: been trying to make friends in jail by showing off 353 00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:36,720 Speaker 2: his knowledge of explosives. He produced eight pages of hand 354 00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:40,359 Speaker 2: drawn diagrams and instructions for creating a pipe bomb, a 355 00:21:40,359 --> 00:21:43,920 Speaker 2: CO two cartridge bomb, a Coleman fuel bomb, a propane 356 00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:47,200 Speaker 2: tank bomb, and diagrams about how to modify the kind 357 00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:50,240 Speaker 2: of inert grenades you can buy as antiques or at 358 00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:53,280 Speaker 2: the Army surplus store and how to turn them back 359 00:21:53,359 --> 00:21:57,880 Speaker 2: into live grenades. And the diagram of the pipe bomb 360 00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:00,680 Speaker 2: he drew in jail in two thousand and four. He's 361 00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:05,080 Speaker 2: remarkably similar to the device he made in twenty seventeen. 362 00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:08,640 Speaker 2: It doesn't appear that anything ever came of the incident. 363 00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:10,399 Speaker 2: In the jail back in two thousand and four, you know, 364 00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:12,840 Speaker 2: the sheriff's office contact of the FBI, and they said, Hey, 365 00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:14,520 Speaker 2: we've got these weird drawings. What do you guys think 366 00:22:14,560 --> 00:22:17,320 Speaker 2: about this. There's no indication that there was follow up 367 00:22:17,359 --> 00:22:21,520 Speaker 2: from there, but apparently they held on to them. Those 368 00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:25,200 Speaker 2: drawings remained in a filing cabinet somewhere in Ohio for 369 00:22:25,440 --> 00:22:28,919 Speaker 2: twenty years. It's kind of surprising that they still had 370 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:32,320 Speaker 2: those drawings in twenty nineteen, but they are included in 371 00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:35,840 Speaker 2: the affidavit for the search warrant. So in the spring 372 00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:38,920 Speaker 2: of twenty eighteen, he seems pretty content with his hobbies. 373 00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:42,360 Speaker 2: He's making fake newspaper articles about his bomb going off 374 00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:45,760 Speaker 2: and showing them to a kid he volunteers with based 375 00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:48,600 Speaker 2: on his eBay review history. He's painting miniature models of 376 00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:52,960 Speaker 2: Godzilla and Frankenstein, both five stars from Gerald, and he's 377 00:22:52,960 --> 00:22:56,520 Speaker 2: getting into model rocketry. In March, he took a solo 378 00:22:56,600 --> 00:23:01,160 Speaker 2: vacation to Amsterdam. His trip Advisor count provides a pretty 379 00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:04,440 Speaker 2: robust log of his travels. He wasn't a big fan 380 00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:07,840 Speaker 2: of the Jewish History Museum, titling his review not really 381 00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:11,280 Speaker 2: for Gentiles, and writing that he felt shorted by the 382 00:23:11,359 --> 00:23:14,640 Speaker 2: lack of artifacts from the death camps at the Holocaust Museum. 383 00:23:15,119 --> 00:23:17,520 Speaker 2: He felt that it had been quote scrubbed of shock 384 00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:20,560 Speaker 2: due to the new PC way all museums are going. 385 00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:24,119 Speaker 2: He felt the same way about the Dutch Resistance Museum, 386 00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:26,359 Speaker 2: writing if you were looking for the story of the 387 00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:29,040 Speaker 2: full account of atrocities done on the citizens, well this 388 00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:33,439 Speaker 2: display doesn't have it. It Like many museums today have 389 00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:36,080 Speaker 2: had to lighten up on their truth so as not 390 00:23:36,119 --> 00:23:40,959 Speaker 2: to offend anyone. He did, however, really enjoy the Museum 391 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:43,720 Speaker 2: of Prostitution and his visit to the Red Light District. 392 00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:47,000 Speaker 2: In a later post on a forum for sex doll owners, 393 00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:49,400 Speaker 2: he boasted that he is familiar with the female condoms 394 00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:52,440 Speaker 2: he uses to keep his dolls clean because he's used 395 00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:55,919 Speaker 2: them in European brothels. And for what it's worth, the 396 00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:58,119 Speaker 2: Anne frank House got his seal of approval as a 397 00:23:58,119 --> 00:24:01,159 Speaker 2: World War II history buff the Ripley's Believe It or 398 00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:04,320 Speaker 2: Not Museum, and he was deeply upset that his hostel 399 00:24:04,359 --> 00:24:09,920 Speaker 2: did not provide a traditional American breakfast with quote hot meats. 400 00:24:10,680 --> 00:24:13,120 Speaker 2: I don't know why you would expect a cheap hostel 401 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:17,000 Speaker 2: in Amsterdam to have American breakfast, but he was not 402 00:24:17,119 --> 00:24:21,320 Speaker 2: satisfied and just as an aside about his trip Advisor reviews, 403 00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:23,720 Speaker 2: I think that was my favorite thing about researching this. 404 00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:29,240 Speaker 2: He loves to review the cell site location data in 405 00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:31,880 Speaker 2: one of the search warrant affidavits shows that he likely 406 00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:34,359 Speaker 2: dropped off that very first threat letter at a USPS 407 00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:37,359 Speaker 2: dropbox in a strip mall near the Dulles Airport just 408 00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:40,400 Speaker 2: before boarding an Air France flight from DC to Madrid 409 00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:44,280 Speaker 2: on September twenty first, twenty seventeen. So while his letter 410 00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:47,080 Speaker 2: threatening to throw piss and shit at Civil War reenactors 411 00:24:47,119 --> 00:24:49,600 Speaker 2: was making its way to Cedar Creek, he was on 412 00:24:49,640 --> 00:24:53,280 Speaker 2: his way to Spain. He hated the bullfighting, but he 413 00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:57,600 Speaker 2: raved about the burger king on Plaza de Castilla. Apparently 414 00:24:57,600 --> 00:24:59,880 Speaker 2: the burger king at home is always getting his order wrong. 415 00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:02,320 Speaker 2: He had to go all the way to Spain to 416 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:06,639 Speaker 2: get his whopper with no onions and no pickles. The 417 00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:09,080 Speaker 2: burger king in his hometown only gets four stars from 418 00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:13,800 Speaker 2: gerald And Since visiting Italy in April twenty seventeen, he 419 00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:17,520 Speaker 2: rated four different Italian restaurants in Winchester, Virginia, based on 420 00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:19,600 Speaker 2: how the pizza measures up to the pizza in Rome 421 00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:24,680 Speaker 2: is given out two just like Romes, and two were 422 00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:29,560 Speaker 2: failures according to Gerald, So maybe he's done. Maybe it's 423 00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:32,600 Speaker 2: out of his system. Three threatening letters and one bomb 424 00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:35,560 Speaker 2: that didn't go off, and then he's back to his hobbies. 425 00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:39,640 Speaker 2: But on June nineteenth, twenty eighteen, his local newspaper ran 426 00:25:39,680 --> 00:25:43,000 Speaker 2: a story about the upcoming reenactment at Cedar Creek. The 427 00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:44,840 Speaker 2: event was just four months away and the board of 428 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:47,280 Speaker 2: directors wanted everyone to know that the reenactment weekend would 429 00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:51,200 Speaker 2: have additional security after the incident the year before. Days 430 00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:54,000 Speaker 2: after the paper ran that story, a pair of identical 431 00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:57,000 Speaker 2: letters were mailed to the newspaper, the Winchester Star, and 432 00:25:57,040 --> 00:26:01,480 Speaker 2: the Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation. The first letters, the envelopes 433 00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:04,040 Speaker 2: had a symbol where the return address should be, but 434 00:26:04,080 --> 00:26:05,920 Speaker 2: for some reason, these letters had a version of the 435 00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:08,439 Speaker 2: anti fascist symbol with the red flag on top and 436 00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:11,479 Speaker 2: the black flag behind, which is reversed from the original letters. 437 00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:14,840 Speaker 2: I think he probably just downloaded a new image and 438 00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:17,159 Speaker 2: didn't notice that it was different. I don't think he 439 00:26:17,240 --> 00:26:21,080 Speaker 2: realized he was signaling a preference for anarchism over communism. 440 00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:24,080 Speaker 2: Or vice versa. You know, both versions of that symbol 441 00:26:24,160 --> 00:26:27,040 Speaker 2: exist and are perfectly real and valid and are used 442 00:26:27,040 --> 00:26:29,960 Speaker 2: by different people, but they are in fact different symbols 443 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:33,240 Speaker 2: and do mean something slightly different. I don't think Gerald 444 00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:37,080 Speaker 2: knew that. And this time both letters were addressed to 445 00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:40,840 Speaker 2: Joe Derezo, the president of the foundation's board, and they 446 00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:42,959 Speaker 2: threatened to kill his mother with a car bomb if 447 00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:46,800 Speaker 2: he didn't call off the reenactment in October. Dereza later 448 00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:48,840 Speaker 2: told agents that he took the threat seriously enough that 449 00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:52,119 Speaker 2: he began checking underneath his mother's car for explosive devices. 450 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:57,800 Speaker 2: But the language in the letters was odd and oddly specific. 451 00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:02,680 Speaker 2: Though the Winchester Star art didn't actually mention what those 452 00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:06,760 Speaker 2: increased security measures would be, the letter writer seemed to know. 453 00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:10,800 Speaker 2: One of the private discussions the board had was about 454 00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:14,639 Speaker 2: banning spectators from bringing bags of any kind to the event, 455 00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:17,159 Speaker 2: but they were worried that this would be an issue 456 00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:21,320 Speaker 2: for people like parents with diaper bags. The letter writer 457 00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:24,199 Speaker 2: said there were quote many ways for us to sneak 458 00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:28,560 Speaker 2: in a surprise, specifically mentioning putting a bomb inside of 459 00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:31,879 Speaker 2: a diaper bag, and the board had also quietly been 460 00:27:31,880 --> 00:27:34,960 Speaker 2: in contact with the local sheriff's office about providing metal detectors, 461 00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:38,840 Speaker 2: and the letter writer seemed to know this too, boasting 462 00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:42,359 Speaker 2: that he'd already outsmarted their security. 463 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:46,760 Speaker 3: We now have plastic bombs, so metal detectors are useless. 464 00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:49,240 Speaker 3: We have found a man that's going to pose as 465 00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:52,520 Speaker 3: an enactor to drive in some kind of fertilizer bomb. 466 00:27:52,840 --> 00:28:00,000 Speaker 3: We have coolers, thermoses, water bottles, all made into small IEDs. 467 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:03,359 Speaker 2: In the completely real and very serious way that real 468 00:28:03,359 --> 00:28:06,560 Speaker 2: Antifa terror cells sign off their terrorism threat letters, the 469 00:28:06,640 --> 00:28:10,400 Speaker 2: letter writer explained why the bomb didn't work in twenty seventeen. 470 00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:14,280 Speaker 3: We are the ones that did it to you last year. 471 00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:17,000 Speaker 3: We used a bad bomb guy. His mercury switch and 472 00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:19,440 Speaker 3: rocket launch wire didn't work on the pipe bomb covered 473 00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:25,640 Speaker 3: in nuts. Just so you know we are real and returning. Yeah, 474 00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:28,560 Speaker 3: just so you know we're real. Okay, it's such a 475 00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:32,919 Speaker 3: weird mess, but silly or not, the letters recipient was 476 00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:37,760 Speaker 3: terrified they were threatening to blow up his mom, and 477 00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:40,120 Speaker 3: there really was a real bomb the year before, so 478 00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:42,719 Speaker 3: you know he's not bluffing. You already know he really 479 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:46,239 Speaker 3: can build a bomb, so you can't laugh it off 480 00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:50,560 Speaker 3: while it's happening, but in hindsight, what a goofy hass 481 00:28:50,640 --> 00:28:53,560 Speaker 3: sign off. Just so you know, we had a bad 482 00:28:53,640 --> 00:28:56,240 Speaker 3: bomb guy last year, but we're very real and we 483 00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:58,880 Speaker 3: fixed that. Okay, We're real. 484 00:29:01,040 --> 00:29:03,800 Speaker 2: A sixth letter, the third in this second batch, was 485 00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:07,360 Speaker 2: sent to John Bucheister, that vendor in Pennsylvania who had 486 00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:09,480 Speaker 2: spoken to the media about being there when the bomb 487 00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:12,800 Speaker 2: was discovered in twenty seventeen. He'd gotten a letter in 488 00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:15,360 Speaker 2: the first batch too, thanking him for spreading that rumor 489 00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:19,080 Speaker 2: that someone had been arrested for placing the bomb. Confusingly, 490 00:29:19,240 --> 00:29:21,920 Speaker 2: the letter he got in July twenty eighteen was addressed 491 00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:25,000 Speaker 2: to Joe, just like the letter sent to Joe Derezo 492 00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:28,080 Speaker 2: the same week, and it seemed to be speaking to 493 00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:30,560 Speaker 2: Joe Derezzo asking for him to call off the event, 494 00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:34,400 Speaker 2: which presumably Derezo could do as president of the board. 495 00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:37,880 Speaker 2: But John Buchheister is just a guy in Pennsylvania who 496 00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:43,120 Speaker 2: sells antiques and Civil War reproductions. This letter, like the others, 497 00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:44,920 Speaker 2: threatened to kill Derezo's mother. 498 00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:49,360 Speaker 3: Since we can't seem to get you to stop this 499 00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:52,800 Speaker 3: celebration of a war to keep men in chains, maybe 500 00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:55,080 Speaker 3: if we go after your volunteers that help out. You 501 00:29:55,080 --> 00:29:58,080 Speaker 3: will stop this. I like the idea of burning your 502 00:29:58,120 --> 00:29:59,760 Speaker 3: mother alive in a car bomb. 503 00:30:02,560 --> 00:30:05,440 Speaker 2: Days after these letters were received, the Foundation announced on 504 00:30:05,560 --> 00:30:09,120 Speaker 2: July third, twenty eighteen, they were calling off the reenactment 505 00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:12,200 Speaker 2: in October. You know, they got that letter in twenty 506 00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:15,440 Speaker 2: seventeen and they decided we're going to soldier On, We're 507 00:30:15,440 --> 00:30:18,360 Speaker 2: going to have the event, And then there was a 508 00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:21,000 Speaker 2: real bomb. People were really in danger. So when they 509 00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:22,760 Speaker 2: got this second set of letters in the middle of 510 00:30:22,760 --> 00:30:25,440 Speaker 2: twenty eighteen, they decided, we got to call it off. 511 00:30:25,480 --> 00:30:27,720 Speaker 2: It's not safe. What if the bomb goes off this year. 512 00:30:27,760 --> 00:30:29,800 Speaker 2: We know this guy's not bluffing, we know he got 513 00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:33,320 Speaker 2: a bomb in the tent last year. We can't risk it. 514 00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:37,480 Speaker 2: And on the Civil War Talk Forum, that online forum 515 00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:41,080 Speaker 2: where Gerald's been posting for years, reactions were mixed. 516 00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:42,840 Speaker 3: A lot of. 517 00:30:42,840 --> 00:30:45,160 Speaker 2: Users agreed that it was the right thing to do. 518 00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:48,200 Speaker 2: It's just not worth the risk people bring their children, 519 00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:52,240 Speaker 2: their families. Others didn't think it was right to let 520 00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:55,200 Speaker 2: the terrorists win, with one poster noting that he never 521 00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:58,520 Speaker 2: stopped going to NASCAR races after nine to eleven. I 522 00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:00,560 Speaker 2: don't know that NASCAR was like a big target for 523 00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:03,400 Speaker 2: al Qaida. But he's been carrying that weight for years, 524 00:31:03,440 --> 00:31:07,880 Speaker 2: I guess. But some posters were starting to ask questions 525 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:14,040 Speaker 2: like why Cedar Creek and why only Cedar Creek. It's 526 00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:17,120 Speaker 2: not the largest or most high profile reenactment, even in 527 00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:19,239 Speaker 2: just the immediate area. I mean, I don't know if 528 00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:22,040 Speaker 2: you've ever spent time in Virginia, but most of that 529 00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:25,040 Speaker 2: part of Virginia just is a hippl war battlefield every 530 00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:28,760 Speaker 2: town has. When every town has a plaque and Cedar 531 00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:32,040 Speaker 2: Creek was a Union victory, wouldn't these people be happier 532 00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:37,120 Speaker 2: targeting or reenactment of a Confederate win. And then, after 533 00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:39,560 Speaker 2: pages and pages of going back and forth about this 534 00:31:39,680 --> 00:31:44,080 Speaker 2: decision on the forum, Gerald himself weighed in. 535 00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:48,960 Speaker 3: I volunteer at Cedar Creek. From what we have been told, 536 00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:51,880 Speaker 3: and this is not for general release. The foundation has 537 00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:54,720 Speaker 3: received threats of bodily harm to the board members. They're 538 00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:57,680 Speaker 3: families and everyone that helps out. Then there is the 539 00:31:57,800 --> 00:32:00,440 Speaker 3: very high cost of security. It is It's sad that 540 00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:02,280 Speaker 3: we live in a world with such a hostile climate 541 00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:05,400 Speaker 3: to the Confederacy ANDPS has taken battle flags out of 542 00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:08,640 Speaker 3: all its stores and statues are being taken down. Here 543 00:32:08,680 --> 00:32:13,000 Speaker 3: in Virginia, schools, streets, parks, anything named about the Confederacy 544 00:32:13,080 --> 00:32:15,760 Speaker 3: is being changed. I do not know if they will 545 00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:19,680 Speaker 3: officially announce the reason or reasons for this decision. Last 546 00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:22,080 Speaker 3: year they refused to say much, and rumors were all 547 00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:24,440 Speaker 3: over the place. We all need to maybe send some 548 00:32:24,520 --> 00:32:27,240 Speaker 3: money to the foundation for expenses, as this was their 549 00:32:27,280 --> 00:32:29,760 Speaker 3: only way of raising funds. With the fall of so 550 00:32:29,840 --> 00:32:33,400 Speaker 3: many Confederate symbols and events going by the wayside, I 551 00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:36,360 Speaker 3: now can feel what my ancestors did when the actual 552 00:32:36,360 --> 00:32:37,360 Speaker 3: Confederacy fell. 553 00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:43,240 Speaker 2: So he is victim and perpetrator here lingering in the 554 00:32:43,240 --> 00:32:46,680 Speaker 2: comment section, watching his fellow Civil War enthusiasts argue about 555 00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:51,080 Speaker 2: how the community should respond to what he has done. 556 00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:54,200 Speaker 2: It's like in every police procedural drama where the killer 557 00:32:54,240 --> 00:32:56,400 Speaker 2: returns to the scene of the crime just to take 558 00:32:56,440 --> 00:33:00,400 Speaker 2: in the aftermath, and again, just as sudden as the 559 00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:05,160 Speaker 2: letters began, they stopped again. He got what he wanted. 560 00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:22,760 Speaker 2: The event was canceled in October, just before the now 561 00:33:22,880 --> 00:33:26,560 Speaker 2: canceled event would have been approaching, Joe Derezo resigned as 562 00:33:26,560 --> 00:33:29,360 Speaker 2: head of the foundation's board. He didn't feel the board 563 00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:33,280 Speaker 2: was taking the threat seriously enough, although it's unclear what 564 00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:36,520 Speaker 2: discussions were taking place behind closed doors because there'd been 565 00:33:36,560 --> 00:33:39,120 Speaker 2: no threats in several months and the event was already canceled, 566 00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:41,720 Speaker 2: so I don't know what prompted him to resign just 567 00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:45,560 Speaker 2: then In October and the local paper, The Winchester Star, 568 00:33:45,720 --> 00:33:50,320 Speaker 2: ran an article about Derezo's resignation, and like clockwork, a 569 00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:54,000 Speaker 2: few days after the article ran, the letter started up again. 570 00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:57,840 Speaker 2: The foundation got a letter addressed to Derezzo, who again 571 00:33:57,880 --> 00:34:01,360 Speaker 2: had just resigned, saying we're sorry to see you go, 572 00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:05,120 Speaker 2: and moving on to threatening the foundation's new acting director, 573 00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:10,239 Speaker 2: Jeanette Schaefer. And I'm sorry it gets gross here. I mean, 574 00:34:10,239 --> 00:34:12,800 Speaker 2: none of this was good, but it gets gross again. 575 00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:16,200 Speaker 2: I'm always on the fence about repeating things like this, right, 576 00:34:16,239 --> 00:34:18,880 Speaker 2: Like is this just for shock value? Does this add 577 00:34:18,920 --> 00:34:22,400 Speaker 2: information to the story? Do you need to know exactly 578 00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:25,720 Speaker 2: what he said in order for the story to make sense? 579 00:34:26,560 --> 00:34:29,000 Speaker 2: But given his prior conviction for a crime of a 580 00:34:29,080 --> 00:34:32,520 Speaker 2: sexual nature involving a young girl, I think it does matter. 581 00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:35,080 Speaker 2: He wasn't just saying whatever he thought would be the 582 00:34:35,120 --> 00:34:38,799 Speaker 2: scariest and the nastiest like this kind of ties back 583 00:34:38,840 --> 00:34:44,000 Speaker 2: into his own past. The letter writer told Derezo that 584 00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:48,520 Speaker 2: his quote pretty mother and bald headed dad, we're safe 585 00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:52,880 Speaker 2: now that he'd resigned. But quote if Jeanette Schaeffer thinks 586 00:34:52,920 --> 00:34:56,600 Speaker 2: she is safe, well she is right, but her children 587 00:34:56,680 --> 00:34:59,800 Speaker 2: are not. If she puts together a reenactment to celebrate 588 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:02,560 Speaker 2: being men in chains, we will come after her girls. 589 00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:06,480 Speaker 2: We have a convicted rapist that would love to introduce 590 00:35:06,560 --> 00:35:12,319 Speaker 2: them to his penis. There are letters that are a 591 00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:15,960 Speaker 2: lot more graphic than this when it comes to the 592 00:35:16,040 --> 00:35:20,040 Speaker 2: sexual threats to those girls. It's in the court record. 593 00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:22,840 Speaker 2: If you're interested in that, I don't see the value 594 00:35:22,880 --> 00:35:29,200 Speaker 2: in proceeding further. You get it at this point. But again, 595 00:35:30,200 --> 00:35:34,120 Speaker 2: even though these letters are obviously very frightening, there's something 596 00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:38,760 Speaker 2: off about them. The letter writer seems to know way 597 00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:42,720 Speaker 2: too much about the specific inner workings of the Cedar 598 00:35:42,800 --> 00:35:46,640 Speaker 2: Creek Battlefield Foundation. He knows a lot about the personal 599 00:35:46,680 --> 00:35:50,280 Speaker 2: lives of these individuals and the way that they interact 600 00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:52,680 Speaker 2: in this space, and the way they run this organization, 601 00:35:52,719 --> 00:35:56,520 Speaker 2: which again is not large. This is not a massive, 602 00:35:56,760 --> 00:36:01,760 Speaker 2: significant operation. This is a pretty small, regional annual event. 603 00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:06,040 Speaker 2: One of the letters in this patch threatened to shoot 604 00:36:06,040 --> 00:36:08,920 Speaker 2: a man named Pat as he opens up the visitor 605 00:36:08,960 --> 00:36:11,719 Speaker 2: center in the morning, and members of the board told 606 00:36:11,719 --> 00:36:14,880 Speaker 2: federal investigators that since those threats in June, the visitor 607 00:36:14,920 --> 00:36:17,759 Speaker 2: center was only open on a limited basis and not 608 00:36:17,840 --> 00:36:20,640 Speaker 2: many people knew about that. You'd have to be really 609 00:36:20,719 --> 00:36:23,480 Speaker 2: close to the operation to know that Pat, who's the 610 00:36:23,480 --> 00:36:27,280 Speaker 2: board's only full time employee, sometimes opened up the visitor 611 00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:30,680 Speaker 2: center in the morning alone. And the letter tried to 612 00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:34,480 Speaker 2: cast blame on a rat in the organization, claiming that 613 00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:37,560 Speaker 2: their inside knowledge came from a man named Sean Mowbray. 614 00:36:38,200 --> 00:36:41,000 Speaker 2: But Mowbray hadn't been a volunteer with the organization since 615 00:36:41,080 --> 00:36:45,880 Speaker 2: twenty fourteen. But in twenty fourteen, Mowbray was at the 616 00:36:45,920 --> 00:36:48,400 Speaker 2: center of that dispute that got Gerald kicked out of 617 00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:51,920 Speaker 2: his re enactment unit. And it's not just the letters 618 00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:55,440 Speaker 2: that seemed to be escalating in intensity the same way 619 00:36:55,480 --> 00:36:58,759 Speaker 2: he sent that letter threatening to rape those girls, Drake 620 00:36:58,800 --> 00:37:02,000 Speaker 2: posted on the subredit for his hometown of Winchester, Virginia, 621 00:37:02,040 --> 00:37:06,279 Speaker 2: asking for recommendations for a good lawyer. He owned a 622 00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:09,799 Speaker 2: lot of antique and reproduction firearms, and was an enthusiastic 623 00:37:09,840 --> 00:37:14,680 Speaker 2: hobbyist in black powder weapons. But he wanted a real gun, 624 00:37:15,520 --> 00:37:19,000 Speaker 2: a gun that shoots real bullets, and when he went 625 00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:21,280 Speaker 2: to buy one, the store refused to sell him anything 626 00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:24,799 Speaker 2: after pulling a background check. Now, his own account of 627 00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:28,080 Speaker 2: the situation is sort of murky and one sided, and 628 00:37:28,239 --> 00:37:30,800 Speaker 2: some of the details I've been able to verify indicate 629 00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:34,600 Speaker 2: that he's not telling the truth. But it appears that 630 00:37:34,680 --> 00:37:38,560 Speaker 2: despite having no felony record, that's true, his conviction for 631 00:37:38,640 --> 00:37:41,240 Speaker 2: child endangerment comes up on his record as a domestic 632 00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:44,720 Speaker 2: violence conviction, so they wouldn't sell him a gun because 633 00:37:44,719 --> 00:37:49,200 Speaker 2: of that. There's no information in any of the hundreds 634 00:37:49,200 --> 00:37:51,400 Speaker 2: of pages of court documents I read that gives me 635 00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:54,640 Speaker 2: any real insight into why he may have wanted to 636 00:37:54,680 --> 00:37:58,040 Speaker 2: buy a gun that week in particular. But if I 637 00:37:58,080 --> 00:37:59,560 Speaker 2: were one of the people who had gotten one of 638 00:37:59,600 --> 00:38:05,680 Speaker 2: those lefts, that timing would take my breath away. He 639 00:38:05,719 --> 00:38:08,879 Speaker 2: also traveled to Paris that October, somehow squeezing it into 640 00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:12,760 Speaker 2: his busy schedule of threatening letters. He loved the Louver 641 00:38:13,160 --> 00:38:16,000 Speaker 2: and Notre Dumb, noting in his review that the movie 642 00:38:16,040 --> 00:38:19,680 Speaker 2: The Hunchback of Notre Dame really doesn't do it justice, 643 00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:22,760 Speaker 2: and he visited several notable World War II historical sites. 644 00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:26,279 Speaker 2: He'd boasted on Reddit earlier that month that he was 645 00:38:26,320 --> 00:38:28,959 Speaker 2: thinking of getting into World War II re enacting because 646 00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:33,120 Speaker 2: the Civil War scene was dying out. McDonald's and Five 647 00:38:33,200 --> 00:38:36,520 Speaker 2: Guys in Paris both got four stars from Gerald, with 648 00:38:36,640 --> 00:38:40,360 Speaker 2: run review saying seeing McDonald's in Paris was like seeing 649 00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:43,440 Speaker 2: an old friend to me. Cheap and consistent food that 650 00:38:43,560 --> 00:38:48,920 Speaker 2: is the same flavor around the world. Fair enough, But 651 00:38:48,960 --> 00:38:51,200 Speaker 2: when he got home it was back to business, firing 652 00:38:51,200 --> 00:38:53,480 Speaker 2: off a letter to the mayor of Gettysburg on Halloween, 653 00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:58,400 Speaker 2: again threatening to bomb the annual parade. The letter demanded 654 00:38:58,440 --> 00:39:01,760 Speaker 2: that the mayor quote sold the flying of Confederate flags 655 00:39:01,760 --> 00:39:04,480 Speaker 2: and post it on Facebook, then we will leave you alone. 656 00:39:05,320 --> 00:39:09,840 Speaker 2: Don't and someone is going to die. The ninth and 657 00:39:09,880 --> 00:39:12,360 Speaker 2: final letter was sent to the Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation 658 00:39:12,520 --> 00:39:16,480 Speaker 2: after the embattled organization announced in December twenty eighteen that 659 00:39:16,520 --> 00:39:21,319 Speaker 2: they would be holding the reenactment in twenty nineteen. This 660 00:39:21,480 --> 00:39:25,279 Speaker 2: letter was addressed to Pat, the foundation's only full time employee, 661 00:39:25,320 --> 00:39:29,560 Speaker 2: that guy that opens the visitor center sometimes. The letter 662 00:39:29,600 --> 00:39:33,560 Speaker 2: asked him, would you like to bury, your sister, your brother. 663 00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:36,239 Speaker 2: We could also just kill you when you sit alone 664 00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:38,960 Speaker 2: in the visitor center. We have a guy that likes 665 00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:41,560 Speaker 2: to rape, we could send him to visit your sister. 666 00:39:43,200 --> 00:39:46,399 Speaker 2: What followed were some sexual threats against the director's daughter 667 00:39:46,440 --> 00:39:49,800 Speaker 2: that really aren't fit to repeat. I mean, they're gross. 668 00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:54,759 Speaker 2: It's definitely the most specific letter in terms of the 669 00:39:54,840 --> 00:39:57,840 Speaker 2: actions being threatened and the particular victims being threatened in 670 00:39:57,880 --> 00:40:02,600 Speaker 2: a way that feels specific enough to be alarming. What 671 00:40:02,760 --> 00:40:05,920 Speaker 2: makes a quote unquote true threat in the eyes of 672 00:40:05,960 --> 00:40:08,719 Speaker 2: the law is kind of a moving target. You never 673 00:40:08,800 --> 00:40:11,640 Speaker 2: really know where the line is where a federal prosecutor 674 00:40:11,680 --> 00:40:13,400 Speaker 2: is going to say, I'm taking that one to a 675 00:40:13,400 --> 00:40:17,560 Speaker 2: grand jury. But in my experience reading cases like this, 676 00:40:18,280 --> 00:40:21,680 Speaker 2: mailing someone a letter that tells them exactly when, where, 677 00:40:21,760 --> 00:40:25,680 Speaker 2: and how you plan to kill them, that's usually pretty serious. 678 00:40:25,960 --> 00:40:29,120 Speaker 2: The law does not like to see that. But by 679 00:40:29,120 --> 00:40:32,960 Speaker 2: this time, the Feds already know it's Gerald. By the 680 00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:36,759 Speaker 2: time Pat is reading this absolutely unhinged letter threatening to 681 00:40:36,840 --> 00:40:40,040 Speaker 2: rape and kill his sister, the FBI has already gotten 682 00:40:40,080 --> 00:40:44,520 Speaker 2: Gerald's phone records from Sprint. They've been conducting physical surveillance 683 00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:48,040 Speaker 2: with an FBI agent following him to his storage unit 684 00:40:48,080 --> 00:40:50,360 Speaker 2: and then returning later with a bomb dog to sniff 685 00:40:50,400 --> 00:40:57,400 Speaker 2: around the door, and again suddenly the letter stopped. But 686 00:40:57,480 --> 00:41:00,520 Speaker 2: this time there's no explanation. When the letters stopped before, 687 00:41:01,160 --> 00:41:04,440 Speaker 2: it was because he got something that he wanted, but 688 00:41:04,560 --> 00:41:08,759 Speaker 2: this time they just stop. In a letter to the 689 00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:12,279 Speaker 2: court before his sentencing, Gerald claims he came to his 690 00:41:12,360 --> 00:41:16,120 Speaker 2: senses sometime in December twenty eighteen and realized that what 691 00:41:16,200 --> 00:41:19,440 Speaker 2: he was doing was wrong. It seems a little bit 692 00:41:19,480 --> 00:41:22,080 Speaker 2: more likely to me that one of the FBI agents 693 00:41:22,120 --> 00:41:27,080 Speaker 2: following him around said something to him, and that's not uncommon. 694 00:41:27,840 --> 00:41:30,640 Speaker 2: I've read plenty of threatening communications cases where the agent 695 00:41:30,680 --> 00:41:33,640 Speaker 2: writing the affidavit describes his first conversation with a guy 696 00:41:33,680 --> 00:41:37,879 Speaker 2: about threatening to behead a senator or something. Sometimes they'll 697 00:41:37,920 --> 00:41:40,600 Speaker 2: come to a guy's door and say, hey, did you 698 00:41:40,640 --> 00:41:44,240 Speaker 2: post this? Because you can't do that, don't do it again. 699 00:41:45,160 --> 00:41:48,040 Speaker 2: And the only reason we're reading the affidavit is because 700 00:41:48,040 --> 00:41:51,279 Speaker 2: the guy didn't stop posting. So the next conversation had 701 00:41:51,320 --> 00:41:53,920 Speaker 2: a very different tone. And I don't know if that's 702 00:41:53,960 --> 00:41:57,279 Speaker 2: what happened here. It doesn't say. And for as insanely 703 00:41:57,360 --> 00:42:00,759 Speaker 2: detailed as the documents supporting these search warrants are There's 704 00:42:00,760 --> 00:42:05,399 Speaker 2: some really important details missing right here. If they were 705 00:42:05,440 --> 00:42:08,359 Speaker 2: following him around in November of twenty eighteen, while these 706 00:42:08,440 --> 00:42:12,160 Speaker 2: letters are still being sent, why wasn't he arrested until 707 00:42:12,160 --> 00:42:15,799 Speaker 2: twenty twenty two. It's clear they spent all of twenty 708 00:42:15,920 --> 00:42:19,759 Speaker 2: nineteen investigating the case. There are search weren't applications here 709 00:42:19,800 --> 00:42:22,920 Speaker 2: for his phone, his storage unit, his house, his Google account, 710 00:42:23,200 --> 00:42:25,480 Speaker 2: and warrant served on his cell phone provider for his 711 00:42:25,520 --> 00:42:29,960 Speaker 2: cell location data. The warrants were executed at various times 712 00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:32,399 Speaker 2: throughout twenty nineteen, with the physical search of his home 713 00:42:32,400 --> 00:42:36,319 Speaker 2: and his storage unit happening in October twenty nineteen, and 714 00:42:36,360 --> 00:42:39,160 Speaker 2: they have him dead to rights. The cell site location 715 00:42:39,280 --> 00:42:42,120 Speaker 2: data puts him at the mailboxes where the letters were 716 00:42:42,160 --> 00:42:45,200 Speaker 2: mailed on the days that they were mailed. For some 717 00:42:45,239 --> 00:42:47,759 Speaker 2: of the letters, he drove out of state to mail them, 718 00:42:47,800 --> 00:42:50,839 Speaker 2: far from his home. So we have the GPS coordinates 719 00:42:51,280 --> 00:42:55,160 Speaker 2: showing him leaving his home in Winchester, Virginia, driving to 720 00:42:55,239 --> 00:42:58,440 Speaker 2: a strip mall in Pennsylvania where there's a USPS drop box, 721 00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:01,520 Speaker 2: and then coming back home. And we know that on 722 00:43:01,560 --> 00:43:04,800 Speaker 2: the days that he did that, the letter was picked 723 00:43:04,880 --> 00:43:08,200 Speaker 2: up at that mailbox and processed at that sorting facility, 724 00:43:08,320 --> 00:43:11,440 Speaker 2: so it's there's not a lot of other explanations for 725 00:43:11,480 --> 00:43:15,480 Speaker 2: why he's driving to these mailboxes on these days. And 726 00:43:15,520 --> 00:43:17,880 Speaker 2: they found the image file for that Antifa logo that 727 00:43:17,960 --> 00:43:20,680 Speaker 2: was printed on the envelopes on a thumb drive in 728 00:43:20,760 --> 00:43:24,400 Speaker 2: his house. We have drone footage from the twenty seventeen 729 00:43:24,440 --> 00:43:27,360 Speaker 2: reenactment showing his car approaching the area where the bomb 730 00:43:27,400 --> 00:43:30,759 Speaker 2: was found shortly before it was placed there. But they 731 00:43:30,840 --> 00:43:33,520 Speaker 2: gathered all of this evidence, I mean more evidence than 732 00:43:33,560 --> 00:43:36,560 Speaker 2: I've ever seen laid out in documentation like this. I 733 00:43:36,600 --> 00:43:41,719 Speaker 2: mean pages and pages of maps showing his GPS coordinates 734 00:43:41,719 --> 00:43:43,200 Speaker 2: on the days the letters were mailed. 735 00:43:44,200 --> 00:43:44,960 Speaker 3: And they gathered all. 736 00:43:44,920 --> 00:43:49,600 Speaker 2: This evidence and they did nothing with it. The documents 737 00:43:49,600 --> 00:43:53,280 Speaker 2: associated with all of these search warrants were sealed. That's normal. 738 00:43:53,400 --> 00:43:56,000 Speaker 2: Usually you keep that sealed until the arrest is made. 739 00:43:56,640 --> 00:43:59,400 Speaker 2: So nobody knew that his house had been searched except Gerald. 740 00:44:00,040 --> 00:44:03,560 Speaker 2: Sue Gerald knew. I think he had to know. But 741 00:44:03,640 --> 00:44:08,560 Speaker 2: after six months, the ceiling order expired. That can happen. 742 00:44:08,600 --> 00:44:10,520 Speaker 2: I think in most cases they're sort of set to 743 00:44:10,560 --> 00:44:13,439 Speaker 2: auto expire after a certain amount of time. But you'll 744 00:44:13,440 --> 00:44:15,879 Speaker 2: see in cases where they haven't made a move yet, 745 00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:20,719 Speaker 2: the prosecutor will apply to continue ceiling. It's not uncommon. 746 00:44:21,200 --> 00:44:24,920 Speaker 2: I think in this case they must have forgotten to 747 00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:27,560 Speaker 2: file a motion to continue the ceiling. That's the only 748 00:44:27,640 --> 00:44:30,480 Speaker 2: explanation I can think of for why they would let 749 00:44:30,480 --> 00:44:34,520 Speaker 2: these warrants get unsealed when they weren't ready to charge him. 750 00:44:35,800 --> 00:44:41,400 Speaker 2: But the ceiling order expired and somebody noticed immediately, because 751 00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:44,360 Speaker 2: the very same day, Justin Rolick wrote an article for 752 00:44:44,480 --> 00:44:49,320 Speaker 2: Courts with the headline disgruntled Civil War reenactor allegedly framed 753 00:44:49,320 --> 00:44:54,520 Speaker 2: Antifa by fabricating threats against his unit. Journalists don't write 754 00:44:54,520 --> 00:44:57,440 Speaker 2: their own headlines, but somebody's got to do something about that. 755 00:44:57,440 --> 00:45:01,720 Speaker 2: That's a mouthful. Next, the Washington Post ran an article 756 00:45:01,760 --> 00:45:04,800 Speaker 2: with the headline, a Civil war reenactment group got threats 757 00:45:04,800 --> 00:45:08,480 Speaker 2: from Antifa. It was a disgruntled actor. FBI says again 758 00:45:08,600 --> 00:45:12,640 Speaker 2: the headlines, what are we doing, folks? But even after 759 00:45:12,680 --> 00:45:17,040 Speaker 2: these two articles ran in February of twenty twenty, the 760 00:45:17,120 --> 00:45:20,759 Speaker 2: case sat still. Well, because I can't say that because 761 00:45:20,760 --> 00:45:24,120 Speaker 2: there was no case. He hadn't been charged. He did 762 00:45:24,160 --> 00:45:26,400 Speaker 2: retain an attorney at this point, and she told The 763 00:45:26,480 --> 00:45:29,239 Speaker 2: Washington Post that he had no idea why he was 764 00:45:29,280 --> 00:45:34,319 Speaker 2: being investigated, which like comee yes, you doo, yeah you do. 765 00:45:36,080 --> 00:45:40,839 Speaker 2: And it wasn't until September of twenty twenty two, just 766 00:45:41,000 --> 00:45:43,680 Speaker 2: days before the five year statute of limitations would run 767 00:45:43,680 --> 00:45:46,400 Speaker 2: out for that first letter sent in September twenty seventeen, 768 00:45:47,239 --> 00:45:50,920 Speaker 2: that Gerald Drake was indicted by a federal grand jury. 769 00:45:51,040 --> 00:45:53,120 Speaker 2: The last bit of his Internet activity I can find 770 00:45:53,160 --> 00:45:56,120 Speaker 2: before his arrest on October six, twenty twenty two, is 771 00:45:56,160 --> 00:45:59,360 Speaker 2: a post he made the afternoon before He spent a 772 00:45:59,360 --> 00:46:01,640 Speaker 2: few hours lying to post on a forum for sext 773 00:46:01,640 --> 00:46:05,200 Speaker 2: all enthusiasts, with his final message being praised for a 774 00:46:05,239 --> 00:46:09,919 Speaker 2: customer service representative named Patrice at a Canadian company called 775 00:46:10,160 --> 00:46:14,439 Speaker 2: sex Doll Queen. Patrese always answers his emails and once 776 00:46:14,480 --> 00:46:16,960 Speaker 2: sent him a free sex doll head as compensation after 777 00:46:17,080 --> 00:46:21,799 Speaker 2: ups damaged the case his doll arrived in. There's no 778 00:46:21,880 --> 00:46:25,440 Speaker 2: explanation for the nearly three years between solving the case 779 00:46:26,080 --> 00:46:29,600 Speaker 2: and arresting the perpetrator. And maybe it's like those cases 780 00:46:29,600 --> 00:46:32,160 Speaker 2: I mentioned before where they give a guy a talking 781 00:46:32,200 --> 00:46:34,200 Speaker 2: to and they say, you know, if I have to 782 00:46:34,239 --> 00:46:37,719 Speaker 2: come back. It's game over. But you know, just knock 783 00:46:37,800 --> 00:46:42,120 Speaker 2: it off. But I've seen cases like that, and usually 784 00:46:42,160 --> 00:46:45,360 Speaker 2: it's mentioned there will be some sort of incident that 785 00:46:45,400 --> 00:46:48,360 Speaker 2: brings the agent back to his door. But there's no 786 00:46:48,440 --> 00:46:52,280 Speaker 2: indication here of any new conduct, certainly no charged conduct 787 00:46:52,640 --> 00:46:56,359 Speaker 2: in the years between the search warrant and the arrest warrant. Right, 788 00:46:56,400 --> 00:46:59,360 Speaker 2: So if they did all this work, they search his house, 789 00:47:00,120 --> 00:47:04,000 Speaker 2: you know, hypothetically they say to him, hey, Bud, knock 790 00:47:04,040 --> 00:47:07,440 Speaker 2: it off, or we have to charge you. If that 791 00:47:07,560 --> 00:47:10,200 Speaker 2: had happened, you would assume that there would be some 792 00:47:11,040 --> 00:47:15,520 Speaker 2: new incident, but there's not. Maybe it was a change 793 00:47:15,520 --> 00:47:19,239 Speaker 2: in office priorities, or somebody wanted this one close specifically, 794 00:47:20,040 --> 00:47:22,600 Speaker 2: And there was some turnover in the US Attorney's office 795 00:47:22,600 --> 00:47:25,880 Speaker 2: in Virginia's Western District during that time period, but nothing 796 00:47:25,880 --> 00:47:29,760 Speaker 2: that really coincides with this timeline. The assistant US attorney 797 00:47:29,800 --> 00:47:32,440 Speaker 2: whose name is on that warrant in twenty nineteen left 798 00:47:32,480 --> 00:47:34,600 Speaker 2: to become a judge. In March of twenty twenty one, 799 00:47:35,560 --> 00:47:37,799 Speaker 2: the US Attorney in the Western District left to become 800 00:47:37,800 --> 00:47:41,040 Speaker 2: a judge. In March twenty twenty, the current US attorney 801 00:47:41,120 --> 00:47:44,040 Speaker 2: was sworn in in October twenty twenty one, And that's 802 00:47:44,080 --> 00:47:46,279 Speaker 2: a lot of in and out, but none of that 803 00:47:46,320 --> 00:47:48,839 Speaker 2: does anything to explain how this case got lost. From 804 00:47:48,840 --> 00:47:53,040 Speaker 2: October twenty nineteen to September of twenty twenty two, I 805 00:47:53,080 --> 00:47:56,520 Speaker 2: spent way too much time, like browsing press releases and 806 00:47:56,520 --> 00:47:59,640 Speaker 2: looking at LinkedIn pages and trying to sort of track 807 00:47:59,680 --> 00:48:02,120 Speaker 2: the paw patterns in the federal indictments coming out of 808 00:48:02,120 --> 00:48:04,800 Speaker 2: this office to try to make these pieces fit together, 809 00:48:04,880 --> 00:48:09,320 Speaker 2: and they just don't. They don't. There's no obvious rationale 810 00:48:09,360 --> 00:48:12,120 Speaker 2: for this timeline, and I don't expect they're going to 811 00:48:12,160 --> 00:48:16,399 Speaker 2: tell us. Drake pled guilty in April twenty twenty three 812 00:48:16,480 --> 00:48:19,800 Speaker 2: in an agreement that dropped most of the charges. He 813 00:48:19,880 --> 00:48:22,120 Speaker 2: only had to plead guilty to one count of possessing 814 00:48:22,120 --> 00:48:26,279 Speaker 2: an unregistered explosive device and one count of stalking. The 815 00:48:26,280 --> 00:48:30,560 Speaker 2: stalking count was specifically regarding the letter sent to Joe Derezo. 816 00:48:30,760 --> 00:48:35,359 Speaker 2: Accounts related to the letters sent to everybody else were 817 00:48:35,440 --> 00:48:40,160 Speaker 2: dropped in exchange. And that's normal. This is really common. 818 00:48:41,080 --> 00:48:43,640 Speaker 2: Data published by the Pew Research Center last year shows 819 00:48:43,680 --> 00:48:46,360 Speaker 2: nearly ninety percent of people charged with the federal crime 820 00:48:47,120 --> 00:48:51,040 Speaker 2: just plead guilty, they take plea agreements. Eight percent of 821 00:48:51,080 --> 00:48:55,600 Speaker 2: cases end up dismissed, leaving only two point three percent 822 00:48:56,360 --> 00:48:59,480 Speaker 2: of people charged with the federal crime who actually take 823 00:48:59,520 --> 00:49:04,680 Speaker 2: their case to trial. The system desperately needs people to 824 00:49:04,760 --> 00:49:08,640 Speaker 2: plead guilty, which is a huge motivator for overcharging. Right 825 00:49:08,719 --> 00:49:10,279 Speaker 2: you say to a guy, hey, we got you on 826 00:49:10,320 --> 00:49:13,400 Speaker 2: twenty counts. You're going away for one hundred and ten years, 827 00:49:14,000 --> 00:49:16,720 Speaker 2: but hey, maybe we can make a deal for twenty years, 828 00:49:16,920 --> 00:49:19,080 Speaker 2: and then you've saved the United States government the cost 829 00:49:19,080 --> 00:49:23,200 Speaker 2: of a trial. It's not a great setup overall, right, 830 00:49:23,320 --> 00:49:29,000 Speaker 2: that our justice system requires that we not actually pursue justice, 831 00:49:29,040 --> 00:49:31,920 Speaker 2: because if everyone actually pursued justice in the form of 832 00:49:32,040 --> 00:49:35,360 Speaker 2: the jury trial you're entitled to, the system would collapse. 833 00:49:35,600 --> 00:49:39,799 Speaker 2: I mean it would fall apart instantly. Just something to 834 00:49:39,800 --> 00:49:42,719 Speaker 2: think about. So when you look at this and you 835 00:49:42,760 --> 00:49:45,239 Speaker 2: see that most of these charges got dropped, it's not 836 00:49:45,280 --> 00:49:48,080 Speaker 2: because they didn't think they could prove those charges at trial. 837 00:49:48,880 --> 00:49:50,840 Speaker 2: They just didn't want to pay for a trial. And 838 00:49:51,520 --> 00:49:56,080 Speaker 2: nine years in prison is enough. So yes, technically he 839 00:49:56,239 --> 00:50:01,840 Speaker 2: is only guilty legally of build the bomb and sending 840 00:50:01,840 --> 00:50:04,840 Speaker 2: the letters to Joe Derezo threatening to blow up his mom, 841 00:50:05,360 --> 00:50:08,280 Speaker 2: the letters threatening to rape Pat's sister and Jeanette's daughters 842 00:50:08,960 --> 00:50:11,360 Speaker 2: are among those dropped counts. So in the eyes of 843 00:50:11,400 --> 00:50:15,840 Speaker 2: the federal government, he is not guilty on those counts, 844 00:50:16,160 --> 00:50:19,960 Speaker 2: not because he was acquitted, he was not found not guilty, 845 00:50:20,440 --> 00:50:22,520 Speaker 2: but he is not guilty of them in the sense 846 00:50:22,560 --> 00:50:25,720 Speaker 2: that he was not prosecuted for those they were dropped. 847 00:50:27,040 --> 00:50:30,200 Speaker 2: Common sense and hundreds of pages of court documents lays 848 00:50:30,200 --> 00:50:32,560 Speaker 2: out a pretty convincing case that can lead you to 849 00:50:32,600 --> 00:50:36,000 Speaker 2: your own conclusion. But the law is what the law is. 850 00:50:37,000 --> 00:50:41,240 Speaker 2: He is not guilty of those things. He's currently serving 851 00:50:41,239 --> 00:50:44,520 Speaker 2: his nine year sentence at the Federal Correctional Institute in Myeland, Michigan. 852 00:50:45,200 --> 00:50:47,200 Speaker 2: He asked for a placement in Michigan to be closer 853 00:50:47,239 --> 00:50:50,440 Speaker 2: to his son. He'll be seventy two when he's released 854 00:50:50,440 --> 00:50:54,040 Speaker 2: in twenty thirty. The government has not yet responded to 855 00:50:54,080 --> 00:50:57,000 Speaker 2: his motion to seal certain case documents related to the 856 00:50:57,080 --> 00:51:00,000 Speaker 2: dropped counts. He wrote a letter from prison in December 857 00:51:00,080 --> 00:51:05,520 Speaker 2: twenty twenty three that certain information in his indictment has 858 00:51:05,560 --> 00:51:09,719 Speaker 2: caused problems for him when other inmates check his paperwork. 859 00:51:10,719 --> 00:51:13,400 Speaker 2: He doesn't get specific, but I assume the threats of 860 00:51:13,560 --> 00:51:17,239 Speaker 2: graphic sexual violence aren't exactly helping him win friends and 861 00:51:17,280 --> 00:51:20,480 Speaker 2: influence people, even if those counts were dropped in the 862 00:51:20,520 --> 00:51:24,880 Speaker 2: plea agreement. Again, he's not guilty of those things, but 863 00:51:24,920 --> 00:51:29,320 Speaker 2: it's in the indictment. So in the end, it turns 864 00:51:29,320 --> 00:51:31,719 Speaker 2: out Antifa never threatened to pour cups of piss on 865 00:51:31,800 --> 00:51:35,640 Speaker 2: Confederate War reenactors or drive a car through the Gettysburg Grade. 866 00:51:36,160 --> 00:51:40,279 Speaker 2: It's just Gerald, a weird little guy who's Maddie got 867 00:51:40,360 --> 00:51:41,760 Speaker 2: kicked out of his Civil War club. 868 00:51:45,800 --> 00:51:48,600 Speaker 1: Weird little Guys the production of cool Zone Media. Or 869 00:51:48,640 --> 00:51:52,760 Speaker 1: more from cool Zone Media, visit our website coolzonemedia dot com, 870 00:51:52,880 --> 00:51:55,560 Speaker 1: or check us out on the iHeartRadio app or wherever 871 00:51:55,719 --> 00:52:03,960 Speaker 1: you get your podcasts.