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Glenn Spencer Speaks Out on Shawna Forde’s Arrest

Posted June 25, 2009 by Patrick Young, Esq.

Glenn Spencer has issued a statement in which he describes his relationship with accused Minuteman murderer Shawna Forde.
As regular readers know, Spencer is the founder of the American Border Patrol, one of the first of a number of “border protection” groups which gave rise to the Minutemen. Shawna Forde has stayed at Spencer’s Sierra Vista, Ariz. property last year. And she was arrested near there 12 days after she participated in the murder of ten-year-old Brisenia Flores and her father, Raul.
Here nearly all of Spencer’s statement. My comments on it follow below his statement.
About ten o’clock on the morning of June 12, I was at my computer working on the Operation B.E.E.F. final report when suddenly someone appeared behind me. It was Shawn Forde, the “Minuteman activist.” She had not called for an appointment but merely showed up at American Border Patrol’s front door (and my home) and was let in.
Being a polite person, I spoke with her, even though last summer I told American Border Patrol employees that, due to her strange behavior, she was no longer welcome at the ranch.
Sitting down at my desk, Forde told me she was setting up an organization to put unemployed veterans to work protecting the border. Knowing that this was ridiculous, I quickly ended the conversation and excused myself. Forde asked if she could use our family room to do some work on her laptop. She stayed about twenty minutes and left.
I still don’t know why Shawna Forde suddenly appeared at my front door, but I am sorry she did.
As she left she asked if she could return the next day and retrieve something she left in the RV. I said OK. (Last summer I let Forde and her daughter use ABP’s RV for about a week.)
With the exception of allowing her to use our RV, I have never had any dealings with Shawna Forde. She has never participated in any of ABP’s border work and none of our people have participated in any Minuteman border operation, including those involving Shawna Forde.
Shortly after Forde left, Waste Management called and said they couldn’t pick up our trash as the FBI the road leading to my house blocked. I jumped on an ATV and drove to the end of the road where I saw a number of vehicles and people who appeared to be law enforcement. I asked if their activities had anything to do with the border and they said no. I returned home and called the Sierra Vista Herald to report the activity. I spoke with reporter Bill Hess, whom I have known for years, and explained the situation. He said he would look into it. That was about 11:30 a.m.
About 12:30 p.m. I left to go into Sierra Vista to do some shopping. I drove my Hummer and waived as I passed the “FBI” people who were still at the north end of my road - they waived back.
On the way home I was just pulling onto my road where the “FBI” people were when I encountered Melissa Jaramillo, my office manager ,who was just leaving. It was a little after 3 p.m., the end of Melissa’s workday. She pointed out that one of the cars on the road looked like it belonged to Shawna Forde. I confirmed this and took a picture of the vehicle (the brown SUV).
Upon arriving home I called Bill Hess of the Herald and told him what had happened. He asked about Shawna. I told him she was a very strange. He said there were a lot of strange people in Sierra Vista. I amplified by saying she was a braggadocio and had claimed that she had visited drug hideouts north of the border. He said it was unlikely drug smugglers would be hanging out with Minutemen and that they would know who she was. I agreed. He said he would pass the information along.
About 5:30 p.m. I was in my yard, playing ball with my German Shepherds when two sheriff deputies arrived. They said that others would be arriving and that they had a warrant to search my home. They said that Shawna Forde had been arrested for murder. I was handed a copy of the warrant.
Shortly thereafter more officers arrived and then came an armored vehicle loaded with a SWAT team. As I was kept to one side the SWAT team entered my home and a search began. I was approached by a Sheriff deputy who said Forde had murdered two people. I corrected him, saying “you mean she is suspected of murdering two people.” He said, no, she murdered them.
I was then interviewed by a female detective from Pima County. We talked for about twenty minutes and I told her all I knew about Shawna Forde. I told her I had very little to do with Forde and that I had told my associates that we should have little to do with her. I told the detective I had heard from others that Forde had bragged about visiting a drug smugglers hide out inside the U.S. I also said I was concerned because of the way Shawna dealt with her daughter, then under eighteen years old, or so I was told.
I told the detective that the deputy who said she had committed the murders was not very professional. She said he was only human.
They finished the search of my home and apparently found nothing that bothered them as they took nothing. After a quick search of ABP’s RV, they all left.
American Border Patrol stopped using volunteers for border work five years ago. We now concentrate on the use of high technology and aerial surveillance.
This is an object lesson about understanding with whom you are dealing in the border volunteer effort. This is why I urged the Minutemen to do background checks on everyone they signed on. They did, which is one of the reasons I allowed Forde and her daughter to use the RV - I thought they had done a background check on her.
Glenn Spencer
PS - Earlier today I learned from a reporter based in Washington State that the FBI was tracking Shawna as she used her laptop to send e-mails over her cell phone Internet link. She sent an email from ABP’s headquarters and this may explain why they arrested her as she left our headquarters.
This clears up a few things, and clouds a few others. I had wondered if Spencer might have called the FBI to arrest Forde when she showed up at his place. The Flores killings were widely known about in the southern Arizona area where he lives and Spencer says he was suspicious of Forde, but he did not report her.
This fact raises some question about the protestations by many Minutemen that they were alerting others in their movement about their suspicions about Forde. If they were, why was Spencer out of the loop? If they thought she might be involved in the killings, why didn’t he?
I also take note that Spencer thought to criticize a deputy for refering to Forde as a “murderer”. Odd thing to put in an exculpatory statement.
More Links to the Minuteman Murders
Since the police first revealed the Minuteman connection to the murders of ten year Brisenia Flores and her father Raul, Long Island Wins has provided intensive coverage of this story. Here is an index of the most important articles we’ve posted:
The Crime
The shocking murder of a little girl and her father focused our attention on recent Minuteman activities in Arizona.
Minuteman Murderer Confesses!
The 911 call by a mother who had just seen her husband and child murdered.
Excerpts from the police reports on the murder investigation.
Anti-Immigrant Groups Deny Ties To Shawna Forde, The Mastermind Of The Murders
Although Forde was a part of Minuteman from its early years, anti-immigrant groups around the country immediately branded her an insignificant figure, in spite of ample evidence to the contrary.
More on Shawna Forde’s extensive connections with anti-immigrant groups.
While the Minutemen depict her as a minor figure, their own web site described Shawna Forde as a person in the leadership.
Shawna Forde had close ties to Jim Gilchrist, co-founder of the Minutemen. Is Gilchrist an important figure in that movement?
This article looks at Gilchrist’s communications with Forde after the killings.
Inside The Mind Of Shawna Forde
Video interview with Shawna Forde on “patrol” along the border.
Shawna Forde’s blog from the Tea Party a month before the killings.
And here is an article the main Minuteman Project website published from Shawna Forde.
Here are first person reports of the Minuteman rally in Everett Washington organized by Shawna Forde at which Jim Gilchrist was the keynote speaker.
The Glenn Spencer Connection
Glenn Spencer, one of the founders of the “border protection movement” and the man who inspired Suffolk’s anti-immigrant movement had ties to Shawna Forde. She was arrested nearly two weeks after the killings immediately after visiting him.
Glenn Spencer speaks out on the Minuteman murders.
The Minutemen Speak
The weird response of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps to the media coverage of the murders.
The Civil War in the Anti-Immigrant Movement
The fallout from the killings has led to a brutal civil war among anti-immigrant groups, with vicious charges being traded by erstwhile allies.
Glenn Spencer’s aide takes on the leader of ALIPAC.
Are Minutemen beginning to threaten each other’s lives?
Anti-immigrant leader worries there may be more Shawna Fordes in “movement”.
Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy And The Minutemen
Steve Levy’s endorsement in 2006 by the founder of the Minutemen.
Steve Levy and the Suffolk Minutemen.
Border Storm-Our new three-part series on the history of the Minutemen
Part-1 How the Minutemen became the heroes of the Right.
Other Articles
The New York Times covers the Minuteman murders.
Boston Globe editorialized against the “climate of vigilantism” created by the Minutemen.