Confidential informant comes forward

AUSTIN (KXAN) - An Austin-based activist has revealed himself to be the confidential informant who broke up a plot by two men to use Molotov cocktails to disrupt the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, Minn. September 2008.

In a letter sent to various media sources, Brandon Michael Darby, 32, wrote he worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the case against David McKay, 22, and Bradley Crowder, 23. Both men were members of the Austin Affinity Group and traveled to Minnesota this summer to disrupt the convention, according to an FBI affidavit.

An FBI investigation earlier in the summer claimed Crowder and McKay devised eight Molotov cocktails and 35 makeshift spiked shields to avoid injury and target law enforcement during the convention. The affidavit claimed McKay was heard saying he could leave the scene with a police officer burning or dying, and that "it's worth it if an officer gets burned or maimed."

In his letter to the FBI, Darby wrote he felt compelled to come forward. "I strongly stand behind my choices in this matter."

When contacted, Darby said he would not comment any further on the situation until after the trial of the two men is over, out of respect for the FBI and U.S. Prosecutors.

Darby co-founded a group called Common Ground, which helped victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He has worked in and around Austin for six years and still lives in the Austin area. Despite his work in the community, various activists are denouncing Darby's decision to contact the FBI. A Web site claims Darby is a "proud snitch."

In a statement, The Austin Informant Working Group identified Darby as a "provocateur" in the plot, and said "...the emerging truth about Darby's malicious involvement in our communities is heart-breaking and utterly ground-shattering to those of us who were closest to him."

"We must be forever vigilante against deceptive, malicious and manipulative actors, while we defend the trust and openness that give our communities cohesion and power," the group wrote in a statement it distributed widely to the media.

Darby is set to testify in the case of McKay and Crowder. David Anderson, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Minnesota said, "our office politely declines to comment."

The trial is set to begin Jan. 26. McKay and Crowder are being held without bail in a Minnesota jail.