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Posted: September 25, 2002
Former San Joaquin County Militia members Kevin Ray Patterson and Charles Dennis Kiles were sentenced this month in California to over 20 years in federal prison for planning to blow up a liquid propane storage complex in Sacramento County in 1999.
On September 9, Patterson, 44, received a sentence of 24 years and five months, while Kiles, 52, was sentenced to 22 years. Both were convicted in May of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction to blow up two 12 million-gallon tanks at the Suburban Propane plant in Elk Grove. Setting off a massive explosion around the time of the Y2K computer bug, the two hoped, would cause the government to respond by declaring martial law. This in turn would motivate citizens to rebel against the government. Officials believe that the blast could have killed thousands.
FBI affidavits revealed that a government informant had alerted authorities to the planned attack. According to the informant, Patterson also planned to attack several other targets in northern California, including radio and television towers.
A third defendant in the case, Donald K. Rudolph, 45, received a five-year prison term in June after agreeing to help prosecutors convict his fellow plotters. Rudolph, the former leader of the San Joaquin County Militia, was in prison for illegal possession of a machine gun when Patterson and Kiles were arrested in December 1999. Rudolph was allowed to plead to misprision of felony-knowing about the plan but not reporting it-after he agreed to cooperate with the government.
This was the second trial Patterson and Kiles faced over the bombing conspiracy. An earlier trial, in November 2001, resulted in a hung jury. The jurors deadlocked 11-1 in favor of convicting the two militia members, forcing a retrial.
Both Patterson and Kiles had been active before the propane plot. Kiles was a former leader of the Sacramento County militia, and had been convicted in 1992 for possession of illegal weapons and silencers. Patterson was involved in a number of extremist groups, including the Texas Constitutional Militia and the Republic of Texas. In 1998, Patterson traveled to Billings, Montana, to surveil the Yellowstone County Jail, where the Montana Freemen were being held for trial following their 1996 standoff with federal authorities. Authorities believe he and others were planning to help the Montana Freemen escape.
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