Second Amendment activist Adam Kokesh was arrested Tuesday evening following an armed raid on his home in the Washington, D.C. area.
Police have charged Kokesh, 31, with possession of a Schedule I
or Schedule II drug while also in possession of a firearm.
According to the Washington Post, charging documents filed in
court Wednesday morning said that hallucinogenic mushrooms, a
Schedule I narcotic, were found in the raid.
The United States Park Police confirmed that a search warrant was
executed on the Herndon, Virginia residence leased by Kokesh late
Wednesday, in the wake of a YouTube video posted by the activist
on July 4 showing him reportedly loading a shotgun in a DC park
only two blocks from the White House. Kokesh uploaded the video
after a planned “Open Carry March” into DC scheduled for
Independence Day was cancelled amid warnings from police. He had
hoped to have hundreds of people march from Virginia into DC
carrying firearms in defiance of the city’s ban on carrying
loaded guns.
Although the July 4 march was ultimately nixed, Kokesh loaded a
firearm at DC’s Freedom Plaza on film before saying, “We will
not be silent. We will not obey. We will not allow our government
to destroy our humanity. We are the final American Revolution.
See you next Independence Day.”
DC laws prohibits people within the city from carrying loaded
weapons.“It was very specifically a call to overthrow the United
States federal government,” Kokesh told radio host Alex Jones
after the video surfaced online. “I think that we have come to
the point where we can get a critical mass of Americans to
realize that we’d be better off without it than with it.”
After the video was posted, Washington Metropolitan Police and
the US Park Police issued a joint statement saying they had
launched an investigation.
“The Metropolitan Police Department and US Park Police are
aware that today Adam Kokesh posted a video that appears to have
been taken in Freedom Plaza in Northwest, DC. We are in the
process of determining the authenticity of the video,” the
authorities announced.
In an interview earlier this week with a local NBC affiliate,
Kokesh confirmed that he legitimately loaded the firearm.
"I was here, and I loaded a shotgun on Independence Day, but I
didn't kill anybody. I didn't drone any children," he said.
"I didn't steal any children's future. I didn't sell this
country into debt. I didn't do any of the crimes that the man two
blocks over at the White House is responsible for."
Law enforcement confirmed on Wednesday that the investigation led
them to execute a search warrant at the Kokesh residence,
culminating in his arrest.
"We were expecting this," roommate Darrell Young told a
local NBC affiliate. "We were expecting the government to raid
our house."
Lucas Jewell, a producer for Kokesh’s Internet television
program, issued a statement early Wednesday saying the search
lasted for five hours, during which police “searched every
corner of the house with canine units and blueprints to the
house.”
“Throughout the ordeal, the police repeatedly showed a
volatile desire to initiate aggressive, forceful conduct with
detainees,” Jewell wrote, adding that a personal safe within
the home was forced open by police and all items were
confiscated. He equates the behavior caught on the July 4 video
as an act of civil disobedience.
Additionally, police reportedly hovered over the home with no
fewer than two helicopters during the raid and detonated
flash-bang grenades upon entering the premises. A battering ram
was utilized to enter the home, and the door to the house was
rendered inoperable as a result.
Kokesh was scheduled to be arraigned early Wednesday, but a
report from a local NBC affiliate updated at 10:19 that morning
claimed that Kokesh refused to leave his cell, opening the
possibility that he’ll be held in contempt of court. He’s
currently being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center
in northern Virginia.
The possession of Schedule I or II drugs is a felony in Virginia
that’s punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a maximum
$2,500 fine. If Kokesh is found guilty of possession of Schedule
I drugs while also in possession of a firearm, he will also face
an additional minimum of two years in prison.
*http://www.adamvstheman.com
*https://www.facebook.com/ADAMVSTHEMAN
*http://www.youtube.com/user/AdamKokesh
*https://twitter.com/adamkokesh
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