3 activists arrested on financial crimes related to Atlanta's 'Cop City' protests

Three organizers who have been providing aid to people protesting a proposed police and fire training center in Atlanta were arrested Wednesday and charged with financial crimes, police said.

Marlon Scott Kautz, 39, Savannah D. Patterson, 30, and Adele MacLean, 42, were charged with money laundering and charity fraud, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in a statement. Jail records indicate MacLean and Kautz were charged with fraudulent, misrepresenting, or misleading activities regarding charitable solicitations and records and reports of certain currency transactions.

"Agents and officers executed a search warrant and found evidence linking the three suspects to the financial crimes," the GBI statement said.

MacLean, Kautz and Patterson are respectively the CEO, chief financial officer and secretary of the Network for Strong Communities, which runs the Atlanta Solidarity Fund. The fund has helped secure bail and lawyers for protesters demonstrating against the facility dubbed Cop City by its opponents.

What is 'Cop City?' Why activists are protesting police, fire department training center in Atlanta.

More than 40 people have been arrested and charged with domestic terrorism in connection with demonstrations at the site. In January, an environmental activist was also fatally shot by police after allegedly shooting a state trooper.

What were the activists arrested for?

Arrest warrants provided to USA TODAY by the GBI accuse the activists of "misleading contributors" by using funds collected through the Network for Strong Communities to fund the actions, in part, of Defend the Atlanta Forest, which the documents allege is a group classified by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as domestic violent extremists.

Defend the Atlanta Forest describes itself as a decentralized social movement with no official leadership, "not an organization or group of people." A spokesperson for the DHS previously said in a statement to USA TODAY the department uses the term to refer generally to individuals who use violence to advance their social or political goals but does "not classify or designate any groups as domestic violent extremists."

Warrants for MacLean and Patterson accuse them of the transfer and misappropriation of funds collected through the Network for Strong Communities to the private bank accounts of the organization's officers. The warrants cite transactions including PayPal payments for gasoline, COVID-19 rapid tests and yard signs, as well as reimbursements for moving a jail support hotline to a new plan and purchasing a safe from Amazon.

In a warrant for Kautz, the Network for Strong Communities is accused of transferring $48,000 to another mutual aid network the day after the network was mentioned as a funding source during a court hearing. The money was returned the next day, the document alleges, "appearing to launder the funds."

Attorney Don Samuel, who is representing the three organizers arrested Wednesday, said prosecutors are alleging his clients used money from donors to reimburse themselves for administrative expenses and "that's not what the donors thought that they were doing with their money."

"That's the prosecutor's theory, we absolutely disagree," said Samuel. "But you know, needless to say, all charities are allowed to have administrative expenses."

Attorney: Financial, domestic terrorism charges meant to quash protests

Samuel said he is confident his clients have not committed a crime. He said although he is hesitant because he hasn't seen the evidence, the charges are "an overreach beyond imagination."

"I think unusual doesn't even begin to capture how unique it is that they would do it in a case like this," he said.

Samuel alluded to the dozens of protesters arrested on domestic terrorism charges and said prosecutors in DeKalb County and the attorney general's office "are doing everything they can to stop the protesting."

"So combining both state domestic terrorism and state money laundering is so far outside of the realm of what state prosecutors generally do that it certainly raises questions about motivation for all these cases," he said.

Georgia officials defend arrests

Gov. Brian Kemp said in a statement the arrests are "a reminder that we will track down every member of a criminal organization, from violent foot soldiers to their uncaring leaders.”

“These criminals facilitated and encouraged domestic terrorism with no regard for others, watching as communities faced the destructive consequences of their actions,” he said in a statement. “Here in Georgia, we do not allow that to happen.”

Attorney General Chris Carr said on Twitter the "arrests are about the violence that occurred at the site of the future Atlanta Public Safety Training Center and elsewhere."

"As we have said before, we will not rest until we have held accountable every person who has funded, organized, or participated in this violence and intimidation," Carr wrote."

DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston said in a statement to USA TODAY she will review the new cases and make appropriate charging decisions.

"Crimes, such as money laundering and charity fraud, to support any illegal acts will not be tolerated," she said.

Advocates speak out against 'false charges'

Other advocates, including Kamau Franklin of Community Movement Builders, spoke out against the arrests.

"This is the targeting of movement people," Franklin said on Twitter. "These are false charges that need to be fought."

Lauren Regan, executive director of the Civil Liberties Defense Center, called the arrests an “extreme provocation” in a statement to the Associated Press.

“Bailing out protestors who exercise their constitutionally protected rights is simply not a crime,” Regan said. “In fact, it is a historically grounded tradition in the very same social and political movements that the city of Atlanta prides itself on. Someone had to bail out civil rights activists in the 60s – I think we can all agree that community support isn’t a crime."

Samuel said MacLean, Kautz and Patterson are expected to appear in court tomorrow to make a preliminary request for bond.

Dig deeper

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Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Cop City' protests: 3 activists arrested for financial crimes in Atlanta