WICHITA, Kan. — Three men accused of plotting to attack Somali immigrants in western Kansas appeared in court Monday, where they were appointed lawyers and ordered to remain in custody for the time being.
Magistrate Judge Gwynne Birzer set detention hearings for Patrick Eugene Stein and Gavin Wayne Wright for Friday and for Curtis Wayne Allen next Monday.
The trio was charged in a criminal complaint unsealed Friday with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction. Their attorneys declined to comment after the brief hearing in Wichita.
Prosecutors say the men are members of a small militia group that calls itself “the Crusaders” and whose members espouse sovereign citizen, anti-government, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant extremist beliefs.