3 activists arrested after their fund bailed out protestors of Atlanta's 'Cop City'

May 31st, 2023

This house in Atlanta's Edgewood neighborhood is where police arrested three key organizers who have been aiding protesters against the city's proposed public safety training center on May 31, 2023. The three are officers of the group that runs the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, which has bailed out people arrested during protests against the project, which opponents derisively call "Cop City." (AP Photo/Kate Brumback)

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Atlanta Police arrested three people who have worked to support protestors arrested at the planned public safety training facility and charged them with money laundering and charity fraud.

Marlon Kautz, Savannah Patterson and Adele Maclean were arrested after the GBI executed a search warrant and found evidence linking them to financial crimes, according to a statement from the bureau.

The three work for the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, a group that helps people who were arrested while protesting make bail. The solidarity fund has formally fundraised bail to get protestors out of jail since at least 2016.

They also provide attorneys and other support while people are still in jail. GBI declined to comment on what exact actions were related to the financial crime charges.

The fund most recently has been raising money to bail out people charged with domestic terrorism for protesting both at the site of and the prospect of Atlanta’s planned police and fire training facility, known to protestors as “Cop City.”

Don Samuel is an attorney representing the three arrested.

“My previous conversation with the Attorney General’s office was unmistakably clear that they did not think in any way shape or form that it was illegal for the organization to be paying for lawyers or for bail,” he said.

The fund most recently has been raising money to bail out people charged with domestic terrorism for protesting both at the site of and the prospect of the training facility.