Dillon Montana man
had his home raided by 40 FBI, BATF and Canadian law enforcement
agents after handing out Alex Jones’ material to his local Sheriff
which was subsequently deemed ‘subversive’.
Richard Celata sells 80%
completed firearms kits intended for purchasers who want to avoid
having to register their weapons in government databases. The kits
are completely legal in Montana.
Celata was politically
active in disseminating the material of Alex Jones and others in his
area, including handing out material to his local Sheriff.
"On Monday morning the
Sheriff called me and said, I’ve read all your stuff, I would like
to speak to you on Wednesday, could you come in," Salada told GCN
radio host Jack Blood.
Celata said he thought
the scheduled meeting on Wednesday was strange because there was an
election on the Tuesday and the Sheriff wouldn’t have known whether
he’d still be in office or not.
"Wednesday morning I get
a phone call saying ‘I lost the election and it’s even more
important that we have our meeting than it was before’."
Celata collected
material he had previously handed out to the Sheriff and traveled to
his office.
"I walk into the room
and there’s way too many people in the Sheriff’s office," said
Celata.
Celata said he knew he
was in trouble as he was introduced to BATF and FBI agents and
handed a search warrant and a promise that his premises were going
to be raided.
"I read the search
warrant and low and behold there’s no signed affidavit," said Celata.
Celata told the Sheriff
that the search warrant was therefore void to which the FBI and BATF
responded that the affidavit was secret and sealed by the court.
"Now they can make up
the affidavit to match what they found if they want to," said Celata
as he was told that the agents would carry out the search anyway.
Celata was then escorted
by an estimated 40 FBI, ATF and Canadian law enforcement agents to
his property. Salada asked if he could call his wife so as to enable
her and their two small children to leave the property before the
SWAT team arrived but was refused on the grounds that he was giving
her a secret code to destroy evidence. However, the Sheriff allowed
the call to be made and the family was able to leave. At no point
was Celata shown any identification by any of the agents.
The cadre of agents,
which now included Canadian AFT agents, then began the process of
methodically cataloguing and seizing Salada’s possessions –
bizarrely urinating on the exterior of the property ignoring the two
bathrooms located inside the building.
Celata was told, without
being shown any supporting evidence, that five of the pistols he had
sold were used to commit murders in Canada.
"I said look, guns don’t
kill people – people kill people," said Celata.
Following the raid
Celata was questioned on his ownership of a Citizen’s Rulebook,
speeches by George Washington and Alex Jones’ books and videos. He
was asked why he read and listened to them and if he believed them.
The agents asked Salada
if he was in a militia or if he knew anyone that was. Salada had
previously sent out material asking why Montana didn’t have a state
organized militia when it was required by law.
The agents then
specifically asked Celata about specific individuals in the freedom
movement, including JPFO’s Aaron Zelman, author Devvy Kidd and
constitutional attorney Edward Vieira. The only way the agents could
have known about Celata’s interest in the work of Kidd and Vieira
was if they had gained access to his e mail.
After this three hour
interrogation the agents took Salada’s entire inventory of 80%
finished frames, copied his computer hard drive (causing the
computer to break down), and left.
Tune in to the Alex
Jones show today for more details on the raid. The audio MP3 of the
interview will be posted here later.
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*Images are representative of SWAT raids and do not correspond to
specific agents involved in this case.
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