Longtime Militiaman Drew Rayner Facing Trial for Mail Fraud
狈翱罢贰:听HateWatch has learned that Drew Allen Rayner has prominent ties to the antigovernment 鈥渟overeign citizen鈥� movement. In April 2010, Rayner was one several sovereign citizens who signed a letter sent to all 50 governors demanding they vacate their offices, or else. The Guardians for the free Republics (GFR), a group which included the vanguard of the sovereign citizen movement, organized the letter campaign. Another sovereign citizen who signed the letters was James Timothy Turner, a sovereign guru who heads the Republic for the united States of America (RUSA) 鈥� one of the largest and most ambitious sovereign groups active in the United States.
A major figure in the antigovernment militia movement for the past two decades for mail fraud in Mississippi. Prosecutors allege that Drew Allen Rayner, 72, gave a fake promissory note to the town of Poplarville to pay a court-ordered fine.
Rayner, who is set to go to trial on Oct. 3, faces up to 55 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.
On the antigovernment conspiracy site Prison Planet, a describes an incident in which Rayner was subjected to 鈥渢errorism鈥� and 鈥渁rmed assault鈥� on March 3 by police in Pearl River County when he was arrested for various traffic violations, including lack of proof of insurance and not wearing a seat belt. In the posting, which appears to be written by 鈥淕ERayner,鈥� it is claimed that Drew Rayner 鈥渨as arrested on trumped up traffic charges鈥� and subjected to 鈥淎rmed kidnapping and unlawful detainment.鈥� The post uses a derogatory term for the U.S. popular in militia circles 鈥� 鈥淭his is obviously AMERIKA.鈥� It ends with, 鈥淢ore to come after I go puke from anger and disgust.鈥�
Drew鈥檚 wife, Nancy, confirmed that the traffic incident led to the court-ordered fine that Rayner allegedly tried to pay with a bogus promissory note. 鈥淗e was set up,鈥� Nancy Rayner told Hatewatch. 鈥淗e wasn鈥檛 driving reckless.鈥� She claimed a SWAT team was involved in his traffic arrest. Nancy Rayner also claimed that a SWAT team and FBI agents visited their home yesterday to question him 鈥渁bout a fraudulent check.鈥� She said Drew was arrested, detained and then released.
Rayner is an old hand in the militia movement. In the 1990s, he headed the North Mississippi Militia. He was also a senior leader in the Southeastern States Alliance (SSA), a long-defunct Southern coalition of militia groups. In 1999, the SSA鈥檚 head, Donald Beauregard, was charged in connection with a plot to bomb energy facilities in Florida and Georgia. Beauregard 鈥� who once claimed to have discovered a secret map printed on a box of Trix cereal that detailed a planned U.N. takeover of the U.S. 鈥� ended up serving four years in prison and was released in 2004.
Rayner is one of 20 people who signed an April 14, 1996, declaration delivered to the FBI regarding a then-ongoing standoff involving members of the Montana Freeman who were holed up on their armed compound, 鈥淛ustus Township,鈥� near Jordan, Mont. In 1996, FBI agents Freeman head LeRoy Schweitzer for felony criminal syndicalism, precipitating what would turn out to be an 81-day standoff between agents and the Freemen that ultimately ended peacefully.
The Montana Freemen rejected the authority of the U.S. government, declared themselves 鈥溾�� beyond U.S. law, and attempted to set up their own government. Schweitzer, the group鈥檚 head, was racist and anti-Semitic. Most of the Freemen drew long prison terms after the siege ended; Schweitzer was sent to federal prison for 22 years.
The 1996 declaration signed by Rayner and several other well-known militia figures demanded that the Freeman be tried by a 鈥淐onstitutional Grand Jury鈥� (sovereign citizens often demand special juries to be convened outside the judicial system) and called the FBI鈥檚 actions 鈥渦nlawful.鈥� The declaration included a threat: 鈥淚f any action is taken against any signer, their families or any supporter of this Declaration, it will be considered an act of war.鈥� The declaration continued, 鈥淲e will then no longer restrain our brethren from the use of whatever lawful force is necessary to eliminate the threat of unlawful federal enforcement authority.鈥�
Rayner continues to be involved in the militia movement as a member of the Well Regulated American Militias.
