SAVANNAH, Ga. — Pvt. Isaac Aguigui held the Army's lowest rank and never saw combat, yet Georgia prosecutors say he was able to recruit more experienced and higher-ranking troops to do his bidding as part of an anti-government militia inside the U.S. military.
Prosecutors in southeast Georgia say 21-year-old Aguigui of Cashmere, Wash., and three other soldiers from Fort Stewart killed a former Army comrade and his girlfriend last December to protect their secret plots. Authorities say the group planned to bomb a Savannah park fountain, poison orchards in Washington state and overthrow the U.S. government.
Mark Potok, an expert on militias and hate groups for the Southern Poverty Law Center, says he'd never heard of Aguigui or his group. He said the case would seem ridiculous if two people hadn't been killed.