Well..this is interesting. Why did the Feds raid this guy? Purely a shot across his bows, as it were, IMO. He must have got a pic of some secret squirrel project and since they can't really admit it..they busted down his door and gave him a taste of their displeasure.
If he could get into a courtroom..perhaps he could at least get a probable cause? It appears that they had a warrant-so they had to show probable cause.
www.cbsnews.com
A Nevada man who operates a website focusing on the remote formerly top-secret U.S. military base Area 51 — long an object of UFO and space alien lore — said Thursday that military and federal investigators raided his homes in what he called a bid to muzzle him.
"I believe the search, executed with completely unnecessary force by overzealous government agents, was meant as a message to silence the Area 51 research community," Joerg Arnu said in a statement about the Nov. 3 raids at his homes in Las Vegas and the tiny desert town of Rachel. "The question now is: How far will they go?"
"I am not a spy," Arnu said in an email to The Associated Press. "I and the vast majority of members of my web site support the military and we understand the need for secrecy to keep our country safe."
In a statement posted on his "Dreamland Resort" website and provided to AP, Arnu said the searches "happened without any warning."
"I was only told that the search was related to images posted on my Area 51 web site," he said.
Arnu told CBS affiliate KLAS-TV he was held outside while agents searched the home. He told the station he was shown a few pages from a lengthy search warrant, most of which remained sealed.
"As it is right now, I have no clear understanding of what I'm being charged with or why my property was seized," Arnu told the station. "Cell phones, memory sticks, backup drives, my camera equipment that is worth almost $10,000, my drone, everything was taken."
Arnu told KLAS-TV that another team of agents kicked in the door of his Las Vegas residence, detained his girlfriend and then conducted another search.
"She was led out into the street — in the middle of the street in full view of all the neighbors, and subsequently our homes were searched," Arnu told the station.
Lt. Col. Bryon McGarry, public affairs chief at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, said he was aware that Arnu's properties had been searched by FBI and Air Force Office of Special Investigations agents. McGarry said he could provide no additional information.
A press official with the FBI in Las Vegas declined to comment. The Air Force OSI did not immediately respond to email messages.
His website: Area 51 - Dreamland Resort
If he could get into a courtroom..perhaps he could at least get a probable cause? It appears that they had a warrant-so they had to show probable cause.
Owner of Area 51 website has homes searched, items seized by federal agents: "I am not a spy"
"I believe the search, executed with completely unnecessary force by overzealous government agents, was meant as a message to silence the Area 51 research community," Joerg Arnu said.
www.cbsnews.com
A Nevada man who operates a website focusing on the remote formerly top-secret U.S. military base Area 51 — long an object of UFO and space alien lore — said Thursday that military and federal investigators raided his homes in what he called a bid to muzzle him.
"I believe the search, executed with completely unnecessary force by overzealous government agents, was meant as a message to silence the Area 51 research community," Joerg Arnu said in a statement about the Nov. 3 raids at his homes in Las Vegas and the tiny desert town of Rachel. "The question now is: How far will they go?"
"I am not a spy," Arnu said in an email to The Associated Press. "I and the vast majority of members of my web site support the military and we understand the need for secrecy to keep our country safe."
In a statement posted on his "Dreamland Resort" website and provided to AP, Arnu said the searches "happened without any warning."
"I was only told that the search was related to images posted on my Area 51 web site," he said.
Arnu told CBS affiliate KLAS-TV he was held outside while agents searched the home. He told the station he was shown a few pages from a lengthy search warrant, most of which remained sealed.
"As it is right now, I have no clear understanding of what I'm being charged with or why my property was seized," Arnu told the station. "Cell phones, memory sticks, backup drives, my camera equipment that is worth almost $10,000, my drone, everything was taken."
Arnu told KLAS-TV that another team of agents kicked in the door of his Las Vegas residence, detained his girlfriend and then conducted another search.
"She was led out into the street — in the middle of the street in full view of all the neighbors, and subsequently our homes were searched," Arnu told the station.
Lt. Col. Bryon McGarry, public affairs chief at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, said he was aware that Arnu's properties had been searched by FBI and Air Force Office of Special Investigations agents. McGarry said he could provide no additional information.
A press official with the FBI in Las Vegas declined to comment. The Air Force OSI did not immediately respond to email messages.
His website: Area 51 - Dreamland Resort
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