The situation has escalated from a person buying property and moving to the state to a person putting together a paramilitary facility, he said. In May, Vermont lawmakers made owning or operating a paramilitary training camp or training people at a paramilitary camp a crime.īaldacci said Tuesday he plans to work with House and Senate colleagues to send a letter within the next few days to top law enforcement officials regarding Pohlhaus. Maine has anti-militia laws, but the attorney general’s office said it was unable to comment on whether they apply in this situation. ![]() attorney and law enforcement agencies around the state that are monitoring this activity, he said. His office is in close contact with the U.S. “I find the espousal of discriminatory and hateful ideologies to be repugnant, and I stand poised to bring legal action should any constitutionally protected activity cross into unlawful behavior,” he said. Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey said he will not hesitate to use all means to stop the spread of hateful, un-American views. Jon Lewis, a research fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, said it should be a concern when neo-Nazis are effectively in your backyard setting up target practice and training with firearms. Gillen said he is putting his feelers out to see if there is anything going on in Aroostook County.Įxperts see this activity as the early stages of an increased threat to the community. “People may be running from another state and say, ‘hey, I’m going to end up in Maine and nobody will know I’m here.’” “They have a tendency to draw that type of crowd,” Gillen said. ![]() Gillen points to the possibility of illegal weapons, people who are not allowed to be in possession of weapons or those who have outstanding warrants from other states as reasons for local and federal involvement. It’s important that federal agencies, particularly the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, look into it, Gillen said, adding that they could be involved but he is not aware that they are. There is a fine line between constitutional freedoms and illegal activity, Aroostook County Sheriff Shawn Gillen said, questioning whether they are just doing their thing in the woods or are creating an encampment for illegal activity. Tuesday’s comments by law enforcement and lawmakers is the strongest public stand they have taken yet against the neo-Nazi movement in Maine.
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