- Federal agents seized radio transmission equipment and
weapons off the Webster Township property of imprisoned militia leader
Mark Koernke on Wednesday.
-
- Dexter-Pinckney Road, in front of Koernke's home, was
blocked off for hours as agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms searched the property, about a mile northwest of downtown Dexter.
-
- Koernke, 45, is serving a 3- to 7.5-year prison sentence
for assault with a dangerous weapon, resisting police and fleeing from
police in Washtenaw County in 2000. He is not eligible for release until
March 2004, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections.
-
- U.S. marshals went to Koernke's house on an order from
the Federal Communications Commission to seize radio equipment, said Chief
Deputy U.S. marshal Darrell Williams. The order charged illegal radio transmissions
were broadcast from the home, Williams said.
-
- In the past, broadcasts on frequency 90.7 FM could be
heard within a radius of 1-3.5 miles of the Koernke home, although no legal
stations from Washtenaw County had rights to it, according to the FCC.
Koernke had a large satellite dish in the rear of his property with 90.7
FM written across it.
-
- An official with the FCC in Washington refused comment
Wednesday. Koernke used to broadcast a short-wave radio show where he called
himself "Mark from Michigan," but officials didn't know if anything
was being transmitted from the home with Koernke in prison.
-
- Williams said the equipment was seized "without
a hitch." But marshals discovered firearms on the premises and contacted
the ATF, said ATF Special Agent Vera Fedorak.
-
- The ATF got a search warrant, and several weapons and
accompanying paperwork were taken by agents, Fedorak said. She said she
did not know the number or type of weapons.
-
- Susan Derosia, who lives two doors down from the Koernkes,
felt it was unnecessary for police to block the street the way they did.
"What they found was nothing new," she said. "There's been
guns there for years."
-
- She says one of Koernke's sons used to hang out at the
Derosia's home - until he left some audio tapes there with anti-government,
militia messages. Derosia says she handed the tapes over to the police
and forbade him from coming over again.
-
- Fedorak said federal gun charges could be filed, but
it's unclear who would be charged. As a convicted felon, Koernke is prohibited
from owning or possessing firearms, but he has been incarcerated for 18
months. He was arrested March 7, 2000, following a lengthy car chase that
began after police mistakenly thought he was involved in a bank robbery
in Dexter.
-
-
- Staff reporters Liz Cobbs and Peri Stone-Palmquist contributed
to this report.
|
