Suspects accused of carrying out arson attacks on Gulf Coast Walmart stores, for reasons mapped out in a document prosecutors call the “Walmart Manifesto,” have been arrested.
Note: This story has been updated following an arraignment hearing Thursday afternoon
The five were arrested Thursday morning. At an arraignment Thursday afternoon, each of the five declared his intent to plead not guilty to all charges. The next step will be a detention hearing to determine the conditions under which any of them may be released pending trial; because of Mardi Gras festivities Monday and Tuesday, Magistrate Judge Sonja F. Bivins set that hearing for Wednesday.
The indictment accuses the five of taking part in a conspiracy “to affect interstate and foreign commerce by maliciously setting fires to damage and destroy Walmart stores and the property within them. Specifically, the fires were maliciously set to force Walmart, Inc. to meet demands related to interstate and foreign commerce set forth by the conspirators in their manifesto ”
According to the indictment, photos of the document were emailed to local news stations in Mobile. The indictment says that the document “references the malicious fires, makes a series of demands on Walmart related to the company’s interstate and foreign commerce business practices, and threatens further malicious fires if Walmart does not comply with the demands. It is signed with a seal pressed into melted red wax.