Nonprofit Bail Funds Face Escalating Pressure

Last week we reported on the growing hostility towards nonprofit bail funds.  That hostility is manifested not only by proposed legislation to prohibit nonprofits from making gifts to persons incarcerated before trial.  The hostility includes harassment and death threats, and now Gestapo tactics.  Seriously.  I do not have my Malcom X, “By Any Means Necessary” hat on right now, I’m just reporting the news confirmed even by Georgia Bureau of Investigation.  GBI executed a full on militarized SWAT raid, complete with 7.6 mm ammo, M-16s, Kevlar, and body armor.  All against one such nonprofit bail fund known as Network of Strong Communities, Inc.

What’s the charity?

Network for Strong Communities Inc. was founded in 2020. The Internal Revenue Service approved its application to operate as a public charity under federal law, and the Georgia secretary of state’s office reports the organization is in good standing. An open records request I filed on June 5 with the Georgia secretary of state’s office returned only routine charity documents.

Among its community engagement activities, the network operates the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, which has, since 2016, provided local activists with legal support, including bail bonds and attorney fees. Bail funds pool donated money to pay bail for people who can’t afford it. They help low-income people who are facing legal charges to avoid the economic hardship of pretrial detention.

You can watch the part of the raid on Twitter: 

What were the charges?  Apparently, the organization spent $6651 towards its charitable cause — or maybe not according to the GBI Press Release.  But yeah, whether spent rightly or wrongly it was $6657 over a two year period so that averages out to about $280 month.  Clearly justifying the M16s and body armor: 

Marlon Scott Kautz, age 39, of Atlanta, GA, Savannah D Patterson, age 30, of Savannah, GA and Adele Maclean, age 42, of Atlanta, GA, were all charged today with money laundering and charity fraud.  Agents and officers executed a search warrant and found evidence linking the three suspects to the financial crimes. All three charged will be booked into a local jail and will have a bond hearing scheduled soon.

And check this out.  It says here that Atlanta Police used PayPal data to determine that the $6,657.59 was for various expenses such as “gasoline, forest clean-up, Covid rapid tests, media, yard signs, and other miscellaneous expenses.”  Apparently, the organization is also involved in protesting the state’s construction of a nearly $100 million dollar “cop city,” (aka “Atlanta Public Safety Training City”) and they must have incurred expenses to clean up after their protest at the construction site.  That is so considerate of them, and certainly not inconsistent with their charitable mission.  I am not making any of this up. 

Anyway, through the wonders of technology you can read the search and arrest warrant if you don’t believe me.  The three board members were charged with money laundering and mail fraud. They were released two days later.  GBI issued a statement asserting that the raid was motivated by violence and vandalism at the construction site, but the search warrant neither mentions nor associates any of that to the nonprofit organization or its board members.  The warrant even lies, claiming that Homeland Security designated this poor nonprofit, housed in Atlanta’s own version of Haight-Ashbury, a “domestic terrorist” organization.  I am not making any of this up.    

Said the ACLU in a letter to GBI and the Attorney General:

We fear Georgia is writing another chapter future generations will look back on with outrage. As you know, dozens of individuals have been arrested and charged with domestic terrorism in relation to protests against the proposed Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.” Additionally, and with significant participation by your offices, three organizers of a bail fund were arrested for alleged financial crimes, also for alleged relationships to these protests.

Alarmingly, these arrests appear to have been based, at least in part, on false averments by your employees. Arrest warrants for some individuals charged with domestic terrorism and for the bail fund organizers assert that the organization Defend the Atlanta Forest has been designated as a Domestic  Violent Extremist (DVE) organization by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS). These averments—sworn by your agents and defended by your prosecutors—appear to be demonstrably false allegations, as DHS does not classify or designate any groups as domestic violent extremists.

I’d say 1983 is in order.  But what do I know? I just do tax law. 

darryll jones