Militia leader in Michigan had ties to Baptist church

The ringleader of a group in Michigan accused of plotting to kill police officers had ties to a Southern Baptist church, according to media reports.

David Brian Stone, 45, ringleader of the group accused of plotting to kill police officers, had attended Thornhill Baptist Church, a congregation in Hudson, Mich., affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.

Elton Spurgeon, pastor of Thornhill Baptist Church, told the Detroit News that Stone had attended infrequently for about eight years. Stone’s 21-year-old son, Joshua, who is also named in a federal indictment unsealed March 29, had recently gotten married in the church, but Spurgeon did not officiate.

Both Spurgeon and his wife, Donna, said they did not condone the group’s activities and had no clue about what was going on. They said they knew the family owned guns and wore camouflage but thought they were hunters. Donna Spurgeon said she recently had lunch with Joshua Stone, who described himself as “second-in-command” to his father, but she did not know what he was talking about.

Authorities say the Hutaree (pronounced hu-TAR-ay), the name that Stone picked for the group, planned to kill an unspecified law-enforcement official and then ambush other officers by using homemade bombs to attack the funeral motorcade. They then would retreat to a staging area defended by booby traps. They hoped the attacks and retaliation would become a catalyst for other militia groups to engage in a more widespread uprising against the government.

A Hutaree website defines the term as “Christian warrior.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which has been investigating the Hutaree since 2009, said the 1990s saw the rise of several anti-government paramilitary groups. In a report released in March, the SPLC documented 512 anti-government “Patriot” groups, which include armed militias, operating by the end of 2009. The number of armed militia groups rose from 42 in 2008 to 127 in 2009. Seven of those groups are in Alabama.

For more information, visit www.splcenter.org. (ABP)