A total of nine people were indicted by a federal grand jury in Detroit on March 29 on charges of seditious conspiracy and other related offenses stemming from an alleged planned attack on law enforcement officials in Michigan.

The five-count indictment charges that between August 2008 and the present, the defendants, David Brian Stone, 45; his wife, Tina Stone, 44; his son, Joshua Matthew Stone, 21, of Clayton, Michigan; another son, David Brian Stone, Jr., 19, of Adrian, Michigan; Joshua Clough, 28, of Blissfield, Michigan; Michael Meeks, 40 of Manchester, Michigan; Thomas Piatek, 46, of Whiting, Indiana; Kristopher Sickles, 27, of Sandusky, Ohio; and Jacob Ward, 33, of Huron, Ohio, acting as a Lenawee County, Michigan Christian militia group called the Hutaree, conspired to use force against the authority of the U.S. Government. All nine of them are currently in custody and eight of them, excluding Stone, who was captured later on the night of March 29 and hasn’t entered a plea, have entered not guilty pleas.

The name Hutaree means “Christian Warrior” according to the group’s Web site. The group also believes in the coming of the Anti-Christ, which it says compels them to defend Christians and to “save those who aren’t.”

“Jesus wanted us to be ready to defend ourselves using the sword and stay alive using equipment,” the group said on its Web site, www.hutaree.com.

“This is an example of radical and extremist fringe groups which can be found throughout our society,” said Andrew Arena, FBI Special Agent in Charge in Detroit in a press release.

“The FBI takes such extremist groups seriously, especially those who would target innocent citizens and the law enforcement officers who protect the citizens of the United States.”

The indictment also alleges that the Hutaree planned to kill an unidentified member of local law enforcement and then attack the law enforcement officers who would gather in Michigan for the funeral. According to the plan, the Hutaree would attack law enforcement vehicles during the funeral procession with improvised explosive devices with explosively formed projectiles, which, according to the indictment, constitute weapons of mass destruction.

Sentences for each offense should the defendants be found guilty in court range from a minimum of five years for possessing a firearm during a crime of violence to a maximum of 20 years in prison for seditious conspiracy to a maximum of life in prison for attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.