Schaeffer Cox, Alaska militia draw national attention to Fairbanks Read more: Fairbanks Daily

03-28-2011 • Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

When Schaeffer Cox was arrested two weeks ago amid a series of local law enforcement raids, it was an unexpected twist to a spectacle Mark Pitcavage has watched from afar for more than a year. Pitcavage, the Ohio-based director of investigative research for the Anti-Defamation League, has been monitoring Cox since he emerged as the face of the Alaska Peacemakers Militia. The ADL, a Jewish anti-discrimination organization, tracks social movements and organizations it feels may be prone to violence. The arrest of Cox and four others — centered around an alleged plot to kill a federal judge, Alaska State Troopers and a federal tax agent — came as a surprise, Pitcavage said. He said Cox’s increasingly heated rhetoric had caused a stir among those who follow anti-government groups, but he wasn’t sure there was much substance behind it. “I knew he had a lot of talk in him,” Pitcavage said. “I didn’t know if he had much walk in him.” Cox was arrested March 11, along with Micha