HARRISONBURG, Va. (AP) — A Civil Struggle reenactor has pleaded responsible to prices that he planted a pipe bomb at a Virginia battlefield in 2017 and wrote letters falsely claiming that antifa protesters have been guilty.
Prosecutors on Tuesday introduced the responsible plea from Gerald Leonard Drake, 63, of Winchester.
Drake admitted throughout a listening to Monday in federal court docket in Harrisonburg that he planted a pipe bomb at Cedar Creek Battlefield throughout an annual reenactment in October 2017. The bomb didn't detonate, however it resulted in cancellation of the reenactment after its discovery.
Drake was a Civil Struggle reenactor who usually participated in occasions at Cedar Creek till he was expelled from his unit in 2014.
He additionally admitted writing letters in 2017 and 2018 through which he falsely portrayed himself as a part of a bunch of antifa activists who have been concentrating on the reenactments as a result of they believed them to glorify slavery. The letters threatened violence at subsequent Cedar Creek reenactments in addition to an annual Remembrance Day Parade in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
“This defendant sought to intimidate and hurt harmless folks, and additional, he tried to sow discontent by falsely claiming that the tried bombing was politically motivated,” stated U.S. Legal professional for the Western District of Virginia Christopher Kavanaugh, whose workplace prosecuted the case.
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