no charges – C.S.News

Dakota Access LLC security guard disguised as water protector who tried to ram car into Standing Rock main camp in 2016 faces drug and gun concealment charges

By C.S. Hagen
BISMARCK – The disguised DAPL security guard set free by law enforcement last year after reportedly driving crazily toward the main No DAPL camp armed with a semi-automatic AR-15, was arrested Tuesday on unrelated charges, according to police.

Kyle Thompson mugshot – Burleigh County Sheriff’s Department

Kyle James Thompson, 30, was arrested at 8:03 p.m. Tuesday for simple assault domestic violence, carrying a concealed weapon, and for possession of schedule I, II, and III drug paraphernalia, according to the Burleigh County arrest records. By Wednesday afternoon the domestic abuse charge was dropped, leaving two Class A misdemeanor charges: carrying a concealed firearm in his vehicle, and possessing drug paraphernalia, namely syringes and spoons, to consume methamphetamine, according to the Burleigh County Clerk of Court.

Bismarck Police Officer David Haswell stopped Thompson’s car on East Broadway Avenue in Bismarck for a welfare check, according to Clerk of Court records. “Police were notified by witnesses that a male subject was hitting a female subject in the car,” Haswell reported. “I made contact with the driver, Kyle Thompson, and asked him to exit the vehicle. While he exited the vehicle I noticed a handgun concealed between the driver seat and the center console.”

Thompson’s DAPL security badge taken from pickup truck – online sources

In the backseat, Thompson allegedly also had a rifle, Clerk of Court documents reported. Officers also located a small zipper case inside the vehicle with multiple syringes, spoons, a white residue, a grinder with residue, and a glass smoking device, Clerk of Court documents said.

“The capped needles field tested positive for methamphetamines,” Haswell wrote. “Thompson does not have a concealed carry permit.”

Nearly six months ago when law enforcement took over the Standing Rock’s Treaty Camp, pitched in the Dakota Access Pipeline’s route, Thompson was arrested by Bureau of Indian Affairs agents after activists slammed a vehicle into his pickup truck. He was disguised as a “water protector” in a t-shirt and bandana covering his face. A short foot pursuit ended in a pond near the camp where according to video reports and interviews with activists, Thompson fired his weapon twice.

In November 2016, Thompson and the Morton County Sheriff’s Department reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation found no evidence that Thompson fired his weapon. Documents linking Thompson to Thompson-Gray LLC, a security firm, were found inside the pickup truck.

Brennon Nastacio and Kyle Thompson on October 27, 2016 – online sources

After BIA agents handed Thompson over to Morton County officials, he was released, and he was called a victim by Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier.

“Three days ago on October 27th, I was in a situation in which myself and others were faced with the difficult decision to take another’s life or not,” Thompson said on his Facebook page shortly after the ordeal. “I drew out my rifle after my vehicle was disabled and over 300 protesters were rapidly approaching my location, a few had knives and were dead set on using those knives.”

Brennon Nastacio – Facebook page

The man who stopped him, Brennon “BJ” Nastacio, a Pueblo Native American from Boulder, Colorado, was placed on Morton County Sheriff’s Department’s Most Wanted List. He turned himself in and now faces felony terrorizing charges. Nastacio has had a preliminary hearing where he said the judge already set a court date of October 5.

“I found that to be fishy,” Nastacio said. “But I pray that he [Thompson] finds help that he needs while being incarcerated. People are so quick to wish bad and talk negative, I am not one of them. I think we endured enough bad and negativity and to add more just isn’t how I was raised. So I am hopeful that this is a wake up call for him to stop walking down that path of destruction.”

Nastacio remains hopeful that his name will be cleared. “But I am aware that my case is in a county where 92 percent of the people there think that we are guilty. I can only be hopeful and pray for a good outcome.”

Two others were charged with Class C felony crimes when activists stopped Thompson: Michael Fasig of Minnesota and Israel Hernandez of New York, according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department. The two “committed reckless endangerment offenses when they rammed a truck driven by another individual,” a Morton County Sheriff’s Department press release reported.

Provided by Morton County Sheriff’s Department

Thompson-Gray LLC is listed under Silverton Consulting International, according to the Ohio Secretary of State. The company was not authorized to work in North Dakota, the state’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation reported. Rumors at the time when trained dogs attacked activists in September 2016 reported G4S, a U.K.-based security company that often goes by nickname the “Chaos Company,” was involved as the Dakota Access Pipeline’s private security firm are unfounded, and denied by G4S staff.

G4S does have multiple companies established in North Dakota, according to the North Dakota Secretary of State.

Charles Graham Clifton with horses in 2015 – photo provided by Joshua Franke-Hyland

Charles Graham Clifton is listed as the owner of Ohio-based Silverton Consulting International, a new company reported as “shady” in online reviews. Clifton is also the owner of AMGI Global, Ltd. Co., now dissolved for tax reasons in Texas, Knightsbridge Risk Management, now dissolved for noncompliance in Colorado. He has connections to the ISSE Foundation Inc., Red Rock Ordnance LLC, and Red Rock Armory, all dissolved for tax issues in Texas, the Lodestar Services International, dissolved in Colorado in 2011, and Humanitarian Defense, dissolved for tax reasons in Wyoming 2010.

Joshua P. Franke-Hyland once worked with Clifton at AMGI Global, Ltd. Co., he said. “It was a 100 percent failure,” Franke-Hyland said. Clifton is “a scam artist with a very long history of scamming people of all types.”

Barbara Marie Colliton – photo provided by Joshua Franke-Hyland

Clifton is on the run, Franke-Hyland said, from bench warrants for felony theft and civil lawsuits. Franke-Hyland believes the use of attack dogs was issued by Barbara Colliton, Clifton’s partner and frequent registered agent. Colliton was arrested in December 2016 but released in Taylor County, Texas after restitution was paid, Franke-Hyland said.

Another company that used attack dogs on September 3 was the Ohio-based Frost Kennels, whose owner, Bob Frost, admitted to using the dogs on September 3, 2016.

“We went out there to do a job and we did it,” Frost said in September 2016. “So we just said f*ck it, and got our dogs, and tried to make a bridge between them and the workers.”

Morton County Sheriff’s Department said the companies involved as security firms for Dakota Access LLC on September 3 were not licensed to work in North Dakota, but did not file any charges against security personnel or companies involved.

Franke-Hyland sued Clifton in Bexar County, and Clifton also is listed as being sued in Bastrop, Texas.

“Clifton’s dream is to be G4S-AMGI, and was supposed to be Clifton’s answer to G4S,” Franke-Hyland said. “AMGI, like everything else Clifton touches, was complete sh*t. He is a risk in every sense in the word. His best day is as an incompetent short con that refuses to pay the bills.”

“Today is the day that they’re going to try and remove everybody”

By C.S. Hagen
MANDAN – An investigation launched by Morton County Sheriff’s Department has proven the dog handlers on September 3 were not properly licensed to perform security work in the Peace Garden State.

But because security personnel cannot be identified, no charges are forthcoming from county law enforcement, according to Morton County Sheriff’s Department.

“Through this investigation it has become evident that many security companies have been hired to do security work for the DAPL pipeline project,” Morton County Captain Jay Gruebele said. “Although lists of security employees have been provided, there is no way of confirming whether the list is accurate or if names have been purposefully withheld.”

Dog handlers have come and gone, Gruebele said, making it impossible to identify who was involved.”

Seven dogs and seven handlers were involved during the September 3 dog attacks, Gruebele said. The attack dogs were deployed in an attempt to keep the activists under control.

The owner of Ohio-based Frost Kennels, a security firm that specializes in guard dogs, said they were at the scene on September 3.

“We went out there to do a job and we did it,” Bob Frost, the owner, said. “So we just said f*ck it, and got our dogs, and tried to make a bridge between them and the workers. We did not go out to attack people, but they knocked down a fence and entered private property. I tell you what, if someone came onto my own yard, I’d have the right to shoot them, it’s the law.”

Today, Wednesday, October 26, may be the day Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier plans to shut the activists down, Bruce Ellison, a long-term criminal defense lawyer, said. He heard the rumor second hand, and the report needs validation, he said.

“The Sheriff today said that today is the day that they’re going to try and remove everybody,” Ellison said. He is also the legal team coordinator of the Lawyer’s Guild Mass Defense Committee.

Ellison was disappointed with the news that no charges are pending.

“The sheriff’s department seems to be very inclined towards not doing that, not actually seeking to promote charges,” Ellison said. “The whole actions of the law enforcement seem to be geared toward going after people who were the victims rather than the assailants.

Dakota Access Pipeline private security - online sources

Dakota Access Pipeline private security with attack dog on September 3 – online sources

“The wounds that those dogs inflicted were horrific, and completely unnecessary and unprovoked. It is disconcerting that the people who have sworn to protect the people seem more interested in protecting corporations once again.”

The Lawyer’s Guild is preparing litigation. “We don’t intend to let this go. We are also very also concerned about the fact the Sheriff’s Department stood by and watched and the federal authorities at least have taken the position that there is no right to law enforcement protection, which is outrageous.

“It’s part of the systemic problem that people have as they try to exercise their First Amendment rights.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s fingerprints are all over the controversy, Ellison said. “This is a domestic security operation, and it was an FBI agent to one of our attorneys who mentioned that they didn’t see any violation of human rights or criminal, and that law enforcement has no obligation to protect people.”

The FBI is also investigating the firm’s lawyers, he said, and delivered an ominous threat.

“The FBI delivered an implicit threat to people out in the fields resisting the pipeline should not be surprised if some landowner shoots them,” Ellison said. “This is very outrageous. People are in the situation where they don’t have anywhere they can turn for protection.”

The entire area surrounding the new camp is militarized, and law enforcement is slowly circling closer, Ellison said. Hundreds of police officers from around the country are being brought in.

The Morton County Sheriff’s Department report has been forwarded to the Morton County State’s Attorney’s office and the North Dakota Private Investigators and Security Board for possible charges. The report also included an evaluation along the pipeline easement where the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has repeatedly said hold significant sacred sites.

“Morton County is in concurrence with the North Dakota State Archaeologist’s findings that their inspection ‘yielded no evidence of human remains or significant sites’ along the DAPL construction corridor,” Gruebele said.

The Morton County Sheriff’s Department received no information on reports of bite injuries. At least six activists were bitten by dogs, according to Angela Bibens, camp attorney.

In addition, the Federal Aviation Administration instituted a no-fly zone at Cannonball yesterday, citing temporary hazardous conditions. The restrictions start at ground level and up to 4,000 feet, according to the FAA.

“No pilots may operate an aircraft in the areas covered by this NOTAM,” the FAA reported. The FAA made an exception for aircraft flown by law enforcement for their tactical operation center.