Darion Ray Sexton was just sentenced to 39 months in prison for allegedly throwing molotovs at an anti-gay, anti-abortion church in Loveland Colorado.
I want to highlight some lessons here so others don’t get caught up. This is written with love and respect for Darion’s tremendous bravery, as well as everyone else fighting for a better world.
#1 Any action using fire, explosives, or firearms will get the FBI and ATF involved.
This means increased scrutiny and investigative resources compared to local police. Weigh the risks of your tactics and consider alternatives if the risks are too great(if the risks outweigh the choice of target, your skills, or comfort). Any action targeting a place of worship will receive increased scrutiny and possible hate crime enhancements as well, even if the target is a hate group.
#2 Don’t leave tracks.
“investigators found footprints in the snow near the church that led into a nearby neighborhood and to Sexton’s house.”
Avoid leaving footprints that investigators can trace back to your location (this can be done using multiple modes of transit, going through well trafficked areas, walking on hard compact surfaces, going an unconventional and confusing route, changing shoes etc.). Leave your phone at home so not to leave digital tracks. If your phone is usually off, turn it off, otherwise leave it on as if you were home sleeping.
#3 Burn your bloc
“A doorbell camera at the church showed a masked person throwing a device at the front door, the complaint says. The person in the video was wearing similar clothing to clothes recovered from Sexton’s house by the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Investigators also found that a plastic bottle found at Sexton’s home was similar to one found in the church basement.”
Dispose of and/or destroy anything in your possession related to the action as quick as possible, without drawing additional attention to yourself. Anything worn or used needs to go. If you can’t afford to throw away a pair of shoes, consider wearing black grocery bags (or better, socks to obscure tread pattern as well) over your shoes for the duration of the action.
Wear inconspicuous clothes for the action that you have never worn before. A NRA hat may get you out of a stop(being stopped in the vicinity at all will make you a suspect). Thrift stores are your friend, but heed warning #4.
#4 Space out action related purchases
“surveillance video from a Loveland liquor store two days before the fires showed a man who looks like Sexton buying Admiral Nelson’s Premium Watermelon Rum – the same type of broken glass bottles found at the church, the complaint says.”
Action related purchases should always be made anonymously. This almost always means using cash. There should be a temporal delay(and a distance from the crime and you) between purchase and action that takes into account the severity of the action, how high or low profile you are, and the surveillance capabilities of the store you are purchasing items from. If you can dumpster supplies, that’s even better.
As a general rule, big box stores like Target and Walmart have more sophisticated surveillance systems that store higher quality video for longer. A smaller shop is probably only keeping video footage for 7-30 days, but it is hard to know for certain.
See this post for more info on reducing your tracks: https://scenes.noblogs.org/post/2023/04/27/minimizing-dna-traces-during-riotous-moments/
Hurry comrades, stop cop city, but don’t get caught.
Links:
https://web.archive.org/web/20240000000000*/https://www.denverpost.com/2024/01/23/darion-sexton-prison-sentence-loveland-church-fire/
https://www.9news.com/article/news/crime/loveland-church-arson-suspect-federal-charges/73-96ef58ac-83b7-42a4-bbcf-ceceb93eb85f
Submitted Anonymously Over Email