Feds Call In Alleged Schaeffer Cox Associate As Material Witness

Second Amendment Task Force organizer Francis "Schaeffer" Cox
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The FBI has served a material witness warrant to Michael O. Anderson, a former associate of Schaeffer Cox who was released from prison when the state dropped its charges against members of Cox’s Alaska militia crew.

Anderson wasn’t arrested, but was brought in as a material witness by the FBI on Tuesday, and is being held in Fairbanks Correctional Center. He is set to appear in court on Wednesday, where bail will be discussed, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Skrocki.

From the the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports:

Joshua Bennett, a friend of Anderson who has been letting Anderson and his wife live at his home, saw the action Tuesday afternoon. At about 12:30 p.m., a group of between 20 and 30 FBI agents arrived at Bennett’s Badger Road area home, he said. The agents, who wore bullet-proof vests and carried machine guns, said they were there for Anderson. They said they had a warrant, although they would not show it, Bennett said.

Bennett said he was surprised by the event because he thought Anderson was complying with a subpoena in the ongoing federal case against Cox.

Scrocki, for his part, disputed this description of Anderson’s cooperation.

Anderson was one of four associates of Schaeffer Cox, head of the Alaska Peacemakers Militia, arrested in March, along with Lonnie and Karen Vernon and Coleman Barney. Of the four and Cox, Anderson was the only one not charged at the federal level. He was released in October after the state dropped its charges against the group for allegedly conspiring to kill Alaska State Troopers and other public officials.

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