The Boston Herald May 20, 2012

Cops bust N.H. man for Chicago plot

By Erin Smith And Laurel J. Sweet

The shocked family of a New Hampshire man held yesterday in Chicago as a domestic terrorist said his life was upended by Occupy Boston, which inspired him to quit his job and leave everything behind to protest across the country before his arrest for a Windy City plot to hit landmarks with Molotov cocktails ahead of the NATO Summit.

State prosecutors said Jared Chase, 27, of Keene, N.H., and two other men — Brian Church, 22, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Brent Vincent Betterly, 24, of Oakland Park, Fla. — are self-proclaimed anarchists and members of the “Black Bloc” group, who traveled together from Florida to the Chicago area and planned attacks on Mayor Rahm Emanual’s home, President Obama’s campaign headquarters, and local police stations. They were held yesterday on $1.5 million bail on terrorism conspiracy charges.

“It does seem out of character. I just can’t even picture it,” said Jared Chase’s uncle, Michael, who said he last spoke with his nephew last week.

Defense attorney Sarah Gelsomino said the men are “absolutely in shock and have no idea where these charges are coming from.”

Jared Chase arrived in Chicago about a month ago to protest with the Occupy movement and decided to stay to protest the NATO Summit, his uncle said. Thousands are expected to demonstrate today, as 50 heads of state gather in the city.

Jared has had minor run-ins with law enforcement but has never been arrested for major criminal activity, according to his uncle. Jared, a computer game aficionado who built his own computer, had moved to Boston and was working as a restaurant cook when he joined Occupy Boston last fall, a move that surprised his family, Chase said.

“He’s not been political at all. He complains about the economy like everyone else. He never did anything like this,” said Chase. “It was kind of a whole new leaf when he became involved with Occupy.”

When Occupy Boston was evicted from Dewey Square in December, Jared quit his job and moved to Miami with other Occupiers, stopping en route to join protest movements along the way in Rhode Island and Washington, D.C., said Chase.

“Miami has the most crooked cops in the country,” a February post on Jared’s Facbook post reads. “We should execute them before they do something well [sic] regret.”

Chase said Jared’s father died in March. His mother, a registered nurse, lives in Maine.

“She’s very worried. Doesn’t understand it. It just doesn’t sound like him,” Chase said of his conversation with Jared’s mother yesterday morning.

The Occupy movement, born last fall, drew hordes of young acolytes while plaguing some of its host cities with trash, noise and crime. But until now, its associates have never been suspected of terrorism.

“Confronting the police has been a central element of their strategy from the beginning,” said John Pike, director of the terrorism research group GlobalSecurity.org. “Apart from a few busted heads and some tear gas, I don’t think they envision going farther than that.”

Jack Levin, Northeastern University professor of sociology and criminology, speculated Chase and the other young defendants may have been infected by groupthink during the alleged plot.

“There’s a certain chemistry that develops among friends, whether they’re terrorists, gang members or just young men who are breaking into a house at night,” he said. “Often they will do things together that they wouldn’t dream of doing on their own.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.