White Separatists Indicted in Bank Robbery Probe

PHILADELPHIA —  Five members of the Aryan Republican Army white separatist group were indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday on charges of conspiracy to rob banks to finance the group, prosecutors announced.

The five are accused of carrying out seven bank robberies in Ohio, Missouri, Iowa and Wisconsin in 1994 and 1995 and using the proceeds to buy weapons and fund recruiting efforts. All five were in custody, including leader Mark Thomas, who surrendered Thursday, FBI spokeswoman Linda Vizi said. Thomas was being held in Allentown, Pa., near the group’s headquarters at Macungie.

One of those named in the indictments, Michael William Brescia, has been named in a private wrongful-death lawsuit brought by a mother of two victims of the 1995 Oklahoma City federal building bombing. Brescia is a part-time student at LaSalle University in Philadelphia.

Vizi said the bank robbery investigation had nothing to do with the Oklahoma City probe, and there was nothing in the indictment to connect Brescia with the April 19, 1995, bombing.

The U.S. attorney’s office described the Aryan Republican Army as a “white separatist group,” but the indictment did not characterize it. Others indicted were Peter Kevin Lanagan, also known as “Commander Pedro,” and Scott Anthony “Tuco” Stedeford of Ardmore, Pa.; and Kevin William “Blondie” McCarthy of Philadelphia.