February 4, 2004

He took a lot of notes.

That's how one member of a California anti-war group, Peace Fresno, described

Aaron Kilner, a member of the Fresno County Sheriff's Department, who had infiltrated the group.

To the activists, he was known as Aaron Stokes, and he'd been attending meetings and going to events for more than six months, says Camille Russell, who was president of Peace Fresno last year.

She and Peace Fresno realized he was an infiltrator only after he died in a motorcycle accident at the end of August.

"I saw an article in the Fresno Bee, and I saw this picture of a guy we knew as Aaron Stokes," she recalls. "But the article identified him as Aaron Kilner, a deputy sheriff working for the anti-terrorism unit."

She was shocked, to say the least.

"We thought he was one of us, and when we read this, we felt betrayed," says Russell, an elementary schoolteacher. "It's a very uncomfortable feeling. When we learned he was working for the anti-terrorism unit, we realized we were targeted because of our strong, vocal criticism of the Bush Administration."

She does not appreciate the implication that she is a terrorist.

"It is scary to think that the government would view someone who is simply involved in criticism of the government as a terrorist," she says. "We feel this is a violation of our First Amendment rights, and we want people to know that the government is doing this kind of thing."

The sheriff's department denies it did anything wrong.

"For the purpose of detecting or preventing terrorist activities, the Fresno County Sheriff's Department may visit any place and attend any event that is open to the public, on the same terms and conditions as members of the public generally," says a statement the department released. "Detective Aaron Kilner was a member of the Fresno County Sheriff's Department Anti-Terrorism unit. This unit collects, evaluates, collates, analyzes, and disseminates information on individuals, groups, and organizations suspected of criminal or terrorist activities. This information meets the stringent federal and state guidelines for intelligence gathering and civil rights protections in order to prevent crime and protect the health and safety of residents of Fresno County and the state of California."

The sheriff's department says Peace Fresno is not under investigation.

The ACLU of Northern California and Peace Fresno filed Freedom of Information requests with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney on January 29. The groups are seeking any and all documents the FBI has on Peace Fresno.

In addition, they want any and all documents about the "monitoring, surveillance, infiltration, or investigation of religious organizations or groups, places of worship, community groups, demonstrations, anti-war groups, and other activist groups or individuals in California."

The FOIA request also wants to know "the factors and/or procedures which are used to determine whether a group or individual is to be the target of monitoring, surveillance, infiltration, or investigation."

Peace Fresno has not decided yet whether it will pursue legal action against the Fresno Sheriff's Department or the FBI.

"We're exploring our options," says Catherine Campbell, an attorney for the anti-war group. "Peace Fresno is a very distressed and outraged organization, and the more they reflect on what happened to them the more distressed and outraged they become."

Campbell warns that the infiltration of peace groups may be widespread.

"If it's happening to Peace Fresno, it's happening to others," she says. "The only reason we found out about it is because of a fluke."