Fred Keuthan, 62, and Dallas Fultz, 66, leaders of the 14^th Regiment of the Indiana State Militia, were arrested in Owen County, Indiana after law enforcement authorities thwarted their plan to have one of their members assassinated.

The Aug. 10, 2001 arrests stemmed from an investigation that began last year when agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) received information that the group allegedly was in possession of explosives and also might be trafficking marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamines to finance their arsenal of weapons and militia activities.

According to police, Keuthan, who has recently been arrested on drug-related charges in Indianapolis and in Texas, allegedly believed that Donald Mayo, a member of the militia group, had been supplying police with information about Keuthan’s illegal drug activity. Keuthan and Fultz unwittingly hired an undercover state trooper, who had infiltrated their group, to murder Mayo while they were demonstrating outside of a gay-themed play at an Indiana university.

The two men were arrested hours before the play after police learned that Keuthan and Fultz had organized more than a dozen other militia members to protest the play, armed with assault-style weapons. Following their arrests, police said they seized a cache of weapons from the men’s vehicles and homes, including a number of assault rifles. Keuthan has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder and dealing marijuana. Fultz has been charged with dealing a sawed-off shotgun and may face additional charges.

The militia movement is a relatively new right-wing extremist movement consisting of armed paramilitary groups, both formal and informal, with an anti-government, conspiracy-oriented ideology. Militia groups began to form not long after the deadly standoff at Waco, Texas, in 1993; by the spring of 1995, they had spread to almost every state. Many members of militia groups have been arrested since then, usually on weapons, explosives and conspiracy charges. There has also been an increasing trend in recent years where certain right-wing groups have been found to be dealing in narcotics, especially methamphetamines. Although the militia movement has declined in strength from its peak in early 1996, it remains an active movement, especially in the Midwest, and continues to cause a number of problems for law enforcement and the communities in which militia groups are active.

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