The FBI, under President Trump, is apparently treating Shade as a terrorist because he has a record of minor offenses related to protesting white supremacy, human rights abuses by ICE, police brutality, tax reform, Trumpcare and against the Trump presidency in general. The complaint states, "SHADE has a history of traveling within and out of state to attend political events as well as protests, and on several occasions, his conduct at these events has resulted in charges related to trespassing, obstructing, invasion of privacy and carrying weapons other than firearms."
Shade had no idea what the invasion of privacy was referring to, while the trespassing, obstructing, and allegations of weapons other than firearms he believes were related to a protest against Richard Spencer at Michigan State University last March. During that event he was arrested and later pled guilty to a civil infraction, Shade said, which was essentially "walking around a gate."
For decades the FBI has prioritized prosecuting environmental and animal rights activists labelled as domestic terrorists, over right-wing extremists, despite the fact that environmentalists and animal rights campaigns don't murder, and right-wing extremists have committed the majority of mass killings, including 78% in 2018, according to the Anti-Defamation League's new report, Murder and Extremism in the United States in 2018.
The Intercept reported in The Threat Within, on 23 March, that "Of 70 federal prosecutions of radical environmentalists and animal rights activists identified by The Intercept, 52 did not result in charges under anti-terrorism laws. Yet the defendants were repeatedly called terrorists by the Justice Department in public statements and internal communications. The designation opened up additional resources and gave the government powerful leverage in the form of terrorism sentencing enhancements, which prosecutors sought in more than 20 cases."
The charges Shade faces have a maximum sentence of 10 years, but no required minimum, unless the prosecution attempts terrorism sentencing enhancements, in which case the minimum sentence could be 5 years or more.
The police carried out an arrest and search warrant against Shade in January and alleged to have found ammunition purchased by Shade at Walmart. The complaint describes the search resulted from an altercation between Shade and somebody associated with a property he owned. Shade said he was in a nearby residence, but he would have to transport through a wall to have interacted with the person in the way the complaint alleges. According to Shade, a meth addict had broken into the basement of a property he owned, was manufacturing meth, had an accident with the chemicals, and alleged Shade had assaulted him, "to deflect criminal charges from himself." Shade hadn't heard the squatter was a meth addict until after Shade was arrested, Shade said.
The previous December the guy had broken into Shade's property with a female partner and a baby during a winter deep freeze. The police declined to assist Shade, saying it was a civil matter. Later, when Shade heard the pair and their children had been homeless prior to breaking in, Shade decided to allow the squatters a few months for the weather to improve before insisting they leave. Shade believes the squatters called the police after one of them got chemicals in the face from their meth lab.
But when the police showed up, the police charged Shade with attempted felonious assault, according to Shade. The charge was quickly dropped after a search warrant of Shade was carried out. His truck was placed in police impound, and his property was seized, including his ID, passport, two cell phones, home maintenance tools, cash, credit cards, work computer, children's tablet, press credentials, prescription medications, and allegedly a single box of ammunition. Shade said he had no idea the police charged him with possession of ammunition based on that search until the police stormed into his house Friday 22 March.
Now Shade faces steep legal fees associated with defending himself against charges brought by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force.
1 https://www.adl.org/murder-and-extremism-2018#executive-summary
2 https://theintercept.com/2019/03/23/ecoterrorism-fbi-animal-rights/
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