The owners of a Montana gold mine sent a letter to the U.S. Forest Service earlier this month warning its employees to stay off the owners' property.
"Anyone entering onto the White Hope Mine, without previous coordination, will be charged" and arrested under Montana code, the letter read, according to court documents.
"At no time will weapons be allowed onto the White Hope Mining Claim," the letter concluded.
Except there are weapons on the White Hope Mining Claim, in the hands of armed militia members the mine owners recruited to protect their claim. And the feds aren't letting the aggression stand.
U.S. Attorney Michael Cotter filed a civil suit Tuesday in federal court in Helena, Montana against George Kornec and Phil Nappo, owners of the White Hope Mine near Lincoln, Montana. The suit alleged the miners opened a road, built a garage and cut down trees on their mining claim without authorization, stored another individual's explosives on the site, and illegally turned members of the public away from the land by locking the gates to the property shut and posting no-trespassing signs.
"The unauthorized and illegal actions of Defendants have interfered with and damaged National Forest Service land," the complaint stated. "Because the non-compliance has not been resolved, and because members of the public are still being threatened or blocked from access, it is necessary for the United States to bring this action."
The suit also noted that defendants and the Oath Keepers, a loose-knit national organization of current and former U.S. military and law enforcement officers that pledge to uphold the Constitution, were "acting in concert or joint participation, in interfering with public and Forest Service access on public lands, including the White Hope unpatented mining claims."