Alaska militiaman Schaeffer Cox needed help and he knew it.
When an old friend from former Congressman Ron Paulâs failed presidential campaign offered to raise money for Coxâs legal defense, he jumped on it.
âItâs my hope and prayer that after reading this and seeing the hell my family and I have been through, that you will help me with this â my LAST chance to prove my innocence â and return home to my family,â Cox wrote in an Sept. 1, 2014, draft of a fundraising pitch.
Cox, the founder of the Alaska Peacemakers Militia, wrote that letter as he sat in the federal prison in Marion, Illinois, serving a 310-month sentence for an anti-government murder conspiracy to kill a state judge and police officers.
Within months, something went awry.
Now, Cox, 34, is suing four people and two companies involved in the âFree Schaeffer Coxâ movement, alleging they embezzled more than $100,000 raised in the name of helping Cox get out of prison and beat charges that he conspired to commit murder.
The lawsuit, which Cox filed in October from his cell at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, offers a rare look at how fundraising pitches are made for imprisoned far-right and racist âalt-rightâ activists.
Most prominently, multiple fundraising efforts are ongoing for five people arrested and convicted of violence at the racist âUnite the Rightâ rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.
Problems with raising money for the imprisoned donât always become public.
But the documents filed in Coxâs lawsuit give a glimpse of not only how the pitches for money are put together, but also what can happen when the inmate and the people raising money for him have a falling-out.
A fundraising pitch
Cox, a Fairbanks, Alaska, resident, once showed political promise, taking 37 percent of the vote in 2008 in a GOP primary bid to unseat an incumbent Republican member of the state House of Representatives.
He went to prison after being convicted in 2012 for a plot to kill, kidnap and terrorize government officials he perceived as enemies of the Alaska Peacekeepers Militia.
Cox was a proponent of Paulâs Libertarian-focused presidential bid in 2008.
He went on to lead the Alaska Peacemakers Militia, which the Southern Poverty Law Center classified as an anti-government âPatriotâ group.
As he sat in prison in Marion, Illinois, before his transfer to Indiana, Cox heard from Maria Rensel, a Fairbanks, Alaska, friend from the Paul campaign who testified on Coxâs behalf during the conspiracy trial.
Rensel pitched Cox in the summer of 2014 on the idea of fundraising for a âFree Schaeffer Coxâ campaign through an entity called âAlaskans for Liberty.â She put together a team of like-minded folks, including Colorado resident Terry Dodd, Stewart Skrill of Ruskin, Florida, and US Observer, an Oregon-based outfit that publishes stories on people they believe to be wrongly convicted.
Cox knew Rensel, but none of the other board members of âFree Schaeffer Cox.â
For Coxâs part, heâd have to allow the use of his photo and write letters asking for donations.
Cox signed on, writing fundraising letters addressed âDear Patriotic Americanâ from his prison cell asking people for money to help him fight his conviction.
âThis is my cry for help,â Cox wrote in a Sept. 1, 2014, draft fundraising letter. âNot just for me and my family, but for Americans like you who may be the governmentâs next target.â
The agreement allowed Rensel and the board of âFree Schaeffer Coxâ to collect money through a fundraising company called Eberle Associates, a McLean, Virginia, direct mail company known for working with conservative clients such as the Koch Brothers-funded FreedomWorks and American Border Patrol, which the Southern Poverty Law Center designates as an extremist group.
The first fundraising mailer went out in early 2015, pulling in, according to court documents, $38,000 in donations from 1,500 people.
Thatâs when something went awry.
Big projections, big fall
After the first $38,000 came in, Cox and the âFree Schaffer Coxâ board seemed happy. Eberle Associates predicted that the fundraising efforts could pull in $300,000 over three years.
âThank you for placing your confidence in us, Maria,â Eberle President Tammy Cali wrote in a letter to Rensel on Feb. 25, 2015. âWe are truly committed to helping raise critical funding to Schaefferâs legal battle.â
Eberle wrote a check to âFree Schaeffer Coxâ on Feb. 23, 2015, and all seemed to be going well. Mailings went out and Cox penned more fundraising letters from his prison cell in Marion, Illinois.
In an Oct. 5, 2015, draft included as an exhibit in the lawsuit, Cox wrote the prison had the nickname âLittle Guantanamoâ and the Obama administration had an âenemies list.â
âAnd since I was the main organizer of the 2nd Amendment lobby in Alaska and represented thousands of conservative voters, I had to go and they didnât care how,â Cox wrote.
The fundraising letter echoed a defense Cox used at trial â that he was a loudmouth who stood up for gun rights, but not a danger.
A jury didnât buy the attempt at papering over his extremist activities, convicting Cox of plotting to kill a judge and law enforcement officers, some of whom took part in the two-year investigation that led to his arrest.
Over the next five months, the trust deteriorated between Cox, the âFree Schaeffer Coxâ board, Eberle and US Observer. Letters and emails in the court file indicate that Cox wanted more say over the board of âAlaskans for Liberty,â a push the board rejected.
One thing is clear: Cox became wary of the âFree Schaeffer Coxâ board members by Feb. 11, 2016. That day, Cox sent an email to Ryan Mobly, a copywriter with Eberle known for handling conservative fundraising pitches and told him to stop the fundraising campaign.
âIâm just saying Iâm not going to ask people to donate to ME when in reality I have no idea at all where the money is actually going,â Cox wrote. âThatâs reasonable.â
Cali put a halt to the fundraising campaign a week later, telling Cox that if he couldnât work out his difference with the board, the efforts would end.
In an email filled with biblical references on March 7, 2016, Rensel told Cox his accusations against the board were false and hurting the campaign to raise money for his legal fight.
âPerfect timing Schaeffer ⊠right when the work is ready to pay off, you self-destruct,â Rensel wrote in an email signed by the other board members.
Emails in the court file show that Rensel and Cox stopped speaking, prompting US Observer to stop researching the case and Eberle to freeze the âFree Schaeffer Coxâ account and hold the money.
âWhat a mess!â Cali wrote Cox on Dec. 21, 2016.
Moving on
It is unclear what became of âAlaskans for Liberty,â which initially incorporated in 2012 in Wyoming, and the âFree Schaeffer Coxâ movement they ran.
âAlaskans for Libertyâ had an IRS non-profit designation as recently as 2017, but it is unclear what became of the money it raised under the âFree Schaeffer Coxâ banner. Cox said in court records he didnât get any of the funds. The group doesnât have a website.
Rensel ran for lieutenant governor of Alaska on the Constitution Partyâs ticket in 2014. The Southern Poverty Law Center lists the Constitution Party, which spews conspiracy theories and believes the government should be limited to âits Biblical foundation,â as an anti-government group.
Renselâs Facebook page was last updated in 2015. She could not be reached for comment.
Since parting with âAlaskans for Liberty,â Cox has a new set of fundraisers known as âSchaefferâs Angels.â
The group put together a website as well as an online petition calling for President Donald Trump to pardon Cox, a common move for anti-government groups. The White House closed the petition drive because it garnered only 56 signatures after being created on Aug. 9, 2018.
For now, Cox sits in a maximum-security prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, awaiting resentencing in his federal criminal case in Alaska.
Along with the suit against Rensel and the onetime board of âFree Schaeffer Cox,â heâs sued the confidential informant the government used in the criminal case.
That lawsuit, against William Fulton and Dallas-based Benbella Books, is pending in federal court.
Much like Coxâs criminal case, thereâs no court date set in the lawsuit over the book.
Photo illustration by SPLC