We’ve told you all about the four senior citizen militia members from Georgia who allegedly plotted an attack against federal employees.
The members of the “covert group,” — who range from 65 to 73 — were allegedly at least partially inspired by a book by a right-wing blogger and plotted to attack government employees with a deadly toxin ricin. But their age, various health problems and their apparent lack of ability to actually pull off the plot has raised questions about how big of a threat they really presented. Lawyers for some of the defendants have raised their age as a barrier to them being able to pull off the crimes they have been accused of, and all four defendants have pleaded not guilty.
Now, thanks to an extensive piece in Esquire by Georgia-based journalist Tom Junod, we know a lot more about the guy who worked as a confidential informant for the feds in the case. It turns out he might not be a model citizen.
Some quick facts about Joe Sims, 46, gleaned from Junod’s piece:
- At the age of 18, he married a 14-year-old.
- He married another woman he met on the job in 2000, and the woman’s daughter filed a complaint with the Sheriff’s office in early 2010 claiming Sims had molested her.
- “He’s my ex-husband and he molested both my daughters,” his second wife told Esquire. “That’s all I’m gonna say. He’s a bad man and he’s done very bad stuff.”
- Sims was charged with six counts of sexual crimes that began in 2002 on March 25, 2010, including the molestation of minors, the dissemination of child pornography to minors and having “carnal intercourse” with his stepdaughter.
- A man who was supposed to be Sims’ best friend a few years back (and who is now married to Sims’ first wife and lives next door to Sims’ parents) repeatedly told Esquire Sims was “scum” before reconsidering. “No, he’s lower than scum,” said Dean Suttles. “I don’t know what’s lower than scum — maybe a snake.”
- After spending seven months in jail and repeatedly trying to make contact with the FBI, he finally got his chance to meet with a federal agent to tell the feds about an alleged plot to blow up buildings in Atlanta. He failed a polygraph test.
- When he got out of jail on a bond he says was secured by his sister, Sims got back in touch with the same federal agent he previously worked with to tell him about an individual the FBI thought was worth keeping an eye on.
- He still hasn’t gone to trial on the sex crime charges.
- Defendant Dan Roberts described Sims as a “son of a bitch” after he realized Sims had took off after they were arrested on the morning of Nov. 1.
Read the full profile, and check out a photo of Sims sitting shirtless in a bathtub smoking a cigar and holding a pistol as a woman poses next to him holding a bottle of rum, over at Esquire.
Ryan J. Reilly
Ryan J. Reilly is a D.C.-based reporter for TPM. Prior to joining TPM, he worked for a news website covering the Justice Department and was a researcher for Bloomberg News. His email address is ryan(at)talkingpointsmemo.com.
"...check out a photo of Sims sitting shirtless in a bathtub smoking a cigar and holding a pistol as a woman poses next to him holding a bottle of rum..."
Thank, I'll pass.
Just for clarity's sake, the bottle in the picture is tequila, not rum.
stretchthepenn As long as it's not Jagermeister. Who *knows* what someone drinking Jagermeister might do.
DQKennard Hey, Jagermeister is good stuff. Don't be putting it in the same category as tequila.
midnight rambler I'm not saying it's *bad*, just that it's one of those liquors, like tequila or Black Russians, that seems to start stories that involve drinking and go really badly.
You're sitting around with your buddies drinking shots of tequila or Jagermeister, and next thing you know you're in the movie Hangover.
Another half-baked FBI operation to get a bunch of pathetic blowhards to talk big about bringing down the government and then arrest them for alleged terrorism. The operatives always turn out to be the originators and the organizers of the plot, which makes the FBI the real terrorists. By preying on the public's fears and using these cases to justify assaults on civil liberties, they are undermining our nation more than anyone else.
CityTrucker
Their cracker asses ought to look pretty NICE in INDEFINITE DETENTION.
The FBI makes arrests based on this chester's snitching, but lets "Bin Laden determined to attack in U.S." PDB gather dust in the White House. I've never felt more protected.
"...at least partially inspired by a book by a right-wing blogger"
What was the book? Who was the author?
snarki-child-of-loki 'Absolved' by Mike Vanderboegh. Amazing what you can find with 10 seconds of Googling.
Unless these characters are unable to leave their living rooms without firing up the ol' Hoveround, I'm not buying the "too old" line.
But I'd hate to be the prosecutor saddled with a star witness like this creep. He/she needs to work out a plea bargain, and fast.
Just goes to show that even a child molesting scumbucket thinks blowing up buildings and killing tons of people is going too far.
Flying Squid Not necessarily. It's just as likely he saw it as his ticket to avoid the consequences of the actions that sent him to jail. You see it on TV all the time: bad guy offers to deliver other bad guy/guys in exchange for getting off the hook himself and DA or FBI or whoever make the deal. Considering how diligently he chased the FBI to deliver up this "plot," I'd be willing to bet that this was Joe's angle.
As for the age of these alleged conspirators, I'm with Early Out; unless they were absolutely physically incapable, I wouldn't conclude they couldn't make good on their rhetoric. It's amazing how nasty and twisted some people become, regardless of age.
fessinbootsFlying Squid This isn't t.v. There used to be a show called Numbers (which I really enjoy on Netflix, by the way) in which every episode consisted of some statistics being used, and at least one major clue following out of the sky into everyone's laps at the Bureau. Reality doesn't work that way.
steve davisfessinbootsFlying Squid Not just statistics, on Numbers. He was apparently a master of all branches of Mathematics, as well as the mathematical branches of a wide variety of other fields.
fessinbootsFlying Squid Come on, fessin, recalibrate ye ol' Snark O'Meter. Pretty obvious Squid was just being snarky and not actually suggesting terrorist plots are okay.
fessinbootsFlying Squid Wonder what Limbaugh will cook up for them when they bust him...
"shirtless in a bathtub smoking a cigar and holding a pistol as a woman poses next to him holding a bottle of rum"
Sounds like a Cialis commercial gone very bad.
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