I first interviewed Mark McConnell back in August 2015 That interview was in regard to Parris Frazier and his effort to steal cartel drugs and sell them (Arizona Misfits – A Bad Operation Gone Worse). McConnell seemed to have an extraordinary knowledge of some of the facts surrounding that incident, which was quite useful in researching for that story. It never occurred to me, at the time, that this knowledge would have been extremely beneficial to law enforcement, leading up to the bust.

The Criminal Complaint that lead to the arrest of Frazier and his cohorts began with the government putting an undercover employee (UCE) in a position provide access to Frazier to make the government’s plans to set Frazier up for the bust. This scenario omits what led up to the bringing in the UCE, so there was a substantial part of the story that was missing. It is quite possible that they chose not to mention a confidential human source (CHS) that provided the background that led to the setup of Frazier. Or, possibly, any such report was filed on form 302, an “Investigation Report”.

My initial article on informants was “Terri Linnell (Mama Bear)“. That article was written because Terri had contacted me prior to testifying in the Portland trial of the first seven defendants. The article was based solely on information provided to me, not what was reported to the government. In my subsequent articles, I have since obtained redacted versions of the “CHS Reporting Documents”, and am now able to provide insight into what Terri reported.

What Terri reported during her role as an informant has not been made public, though some have expressed a concern as to what she said and what might be damaging to the defendants. As Terri claimed in her statement in the above linked article, her job was, primarily, to keep and eye on six people — Ammon Bundy, Ryan Bundy, Jon Ritzheimer, Blaine Cooper, Ryan Payne, Pete Santilli, and Joe O’Shaughnessy. So, from those reports that have exemplified the role of informants, following is the role that Terri played.

For the sake of this article, I will use the name that those at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge (MNWR) knew him by, John Killman. However, his real name is Fabio Minoggio, from Switzerland, and currently living in Las Vegas, Nevada, or northwestern Arizona.

There is little information in his Fabio Minoggio Facebook page, though it appears that he was born in Pallanza, Italy. He claims to still live in Locarno, Switzerland. He may have been born January 1, 1971, as implied by a date shown on the John Killman Facebook page.

At this point, we only have what he said to the defense attorneys, when asked why he went to the refuge. He told them, “I am in this because of my love of gun safety,” according to the lawyers’ notes. He also said he didn’t want to miss a “moment in history.*” This claim doesn’t bear fruit, since, while on the witness stand, in response to a question about expenses, he said “I was going into harm’s way, so I had to buy ballistic vests”. From whom did he sense a threat?

On October 11, 2015, the initial Operation Mutual Defense (OMD) Advisory Board (AB) held their first meeting. Each meeting had an agenda and the AB members agreed to record the telephonic meetings, for the record. The recordings were then place in a Dropbox folder, accessible only to the AB members. There was also a private mail-list group set up, again restricted only to AB members.

The AB was comprised of five members. The only member that was known only by one other member, Ryan Payne, was a retired military officer named Dennis Roy Dickenson. Dickenson had endeared himself to Ryan when he was going to fly up to Montana on April 10, 2014. The meeting never occurred, as Ryan had left for the Bundy Ranch on April 7.

Burns Chronicles No 40 Allen Varner (Wolf)

When I wrote “What is Brandon Curtiss?“, I had nothing but gratitude for Wolf. He had stepped up when I was faced with Brandon Curtiss and his goons. His involvement allowed me to continue packing in order to leave Burns. The above picture was taken during this event.

There were some unanswered questions from an earlier incident. When the shootout occurred at Camp Lone Star, back on August 29, 2014, Varner was with Kevin “KC” Massey and John Foerster, on the Texas Border near Brownsville, when a Border Patrol (BP) Agent fired in the direction of Foerster. (See “The Arrest of K. C. Massey“.) Now questions arose as to Foerster’s role, but Varner appeared to be without sin. Varner, however, was the first to offer his pistol, in his belt under his shirt, to the BP agent, which led to Massey then turning his pistol over to BP. In hindsight, there were other questionable actions by Varner, though unrelated to the topic at hand.