The Atlanta Police Department dispatched a SWAT team to apprehend Marlon Kautz, Adele MacLean, and Savannah Patterson, who were volunteer board members of a local charity. These individuals were not wanted criminals or drug lords but were charged by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation with charity fraud and money laundering. There is a possibility of pending charges under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, which is an extensive state version of federal RICO laws.
As a researcher specializing in nonprofit governance, I find this situation highly unusual. It is also personally relevant to me as a friend of mine was arrested by the Atlanta police three months ago while attending a music festival organized by the “Stop Cop City” protesters.
The charity in question is the Network for Strong Communities Inc., established in 2020. It has been approved by the Internal Revenue Service to operate as a public charity under federal law, and according to the Georgia secretary of state’s office, the organization is in good standing. A recent records request yielded only routine charity documents.
Among its community engagement activities, the network runs the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, which has been providing legal support to local activists since 2016. This includes bail bonds and attorney fees to help low-income individuals facing legal charges avoid the financial burden of pretrial detention. It is worth noting that there is another unrelated charity with the same name based in Missouri.
The Network for Strong Communities has been assisting numerous individuals who have been arrested since 2022 during protests against the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, a controversial facility situated in Atlanta’s largest urban forest. The actions have been led by an environmental and civil rights coalition called Defend the Atlanta Forest, driven by concerns about police militarization and environmental harm. These concerns are shared by many residents of the city.
While most activists opposing the training center, referred to as “Cop City,” have employed constitutionally protected tactics, some have allegedly engaged in criminal acts of sabotage. The protests gained international attention following the tragic death of Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, an environmental activist shot by a Georgia State Patrol trooper during a confrontation with law enforcement officers attempting to clear protesters from the site in January 2023.
Georgia has utilized its state domestic terrorism law and an unusual state-of-emergency declaration issued by Governor Brian Kemp on January 26, 2023, to detain arrested activists without bail for extended periods. However, the three board members of the Network for Strong Communities were released just two days after their arrest. The judge presiding over their case expressed doubts about the strength of the state’s evidence, and their attorney has argued that the charges are unconstitutional.
The previous arrests of over 40 activists raised significant concerns among human rights experts who questioned the lack of evidence and noted that the activists were involved in constitutionally protected activities.
Despite objections from more than 350 Atlanta residents who waited in line for over 14 hours to provide public comments, the Atlanta City Council approved the remaining $90 million in funding for the training center on June 6.