Courage Under Fire : Matt DeHart
#IntelGroup Interviews Leann DeHart
Matt DeHart is a 31-year-old former US Air National Guard drone team member and alleged WikiLeaks courier, who worked with the hactivist group Anonymous.
In mid-September 2009, he found an unprotected file, an FBI investigation into the CIA, on The Shell, a server he ran. He deleted the file but it later reappeared in encrypted form on another server he had access to, and was destined for WikiLeaks.
Matt was honourably discharged from the military when the Air National Guard deemed that his depression was incompatible with his work. Matt suspected that they were well aware of his online activities and that he felt played a part .
The FBI raided the DeHart family home on 25 Jan 2010 and seized Matt’s computer together with every data storage device in the house — except for two hidden thumb drives, which he says contain Anonymous contact information, server logs from The Shell and leaked documents.
Later that year, DeHart was detained at the border when returning from college in Canada. There, Matt says he was tortured and intravenously drugged against his will. FBI records of his interrogation confirm that Matt was detained for “national security” reasons and questioned about his military unit, Anonymous, WikiLeaks and espionage. During his interrogation he was presented with a Criminal Complaint and Arrest Warrant for the solicitation of child pornography that had been filed in the afternoon after his morning detention at the border. According to Matt, the FBI told him they knew he was innocent of the charges.
Matt spent almost the next two years in various US jails while awaiting trial for the pornography charges. In 2012 a US judge, after reviewing classified FBI reports, expressed skepticism in open court over the government’s charges against Matt, and ordered that he be released on bond. Matt then returned to Canada with his parents to seek asylum, but he again found himself in detention, and under questioning by the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) and the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) Intelligence and War Crimes Division. In February 2015 Canada denied Matt DeHart’s request for asylum, and on March 1, 2015 he was deported back to the US, where he is currently in federal custody.
Today we have the pleasure of interviewing the Matt’s mother Leann DeHart . @Leann02
How proud of your son are you ?
We have always been proud of our son and we will continue to be proud of him. Our pride in him is not based on his success, financial or social standings; but on the kind of person he is. He genuinely cares about people and their rights. His compassion is his best trait.
Do you ever regret him getting involved in all this ?
Our only regret is that we could not keep our son safe from the evil that was done to him.
In your opinion , would Matt do it all over again if he had to?
I think Matt believed he was going to make a difference and I do believe he has. Maybe not the way he ever imagined, but he is still the same person he was only a bit older and a bit wiser. Knowing my son, he may have chosen a different strategy then ones taken, but he has always been concerned with protecting people’s privacy and rights since his early teens.
Why did Matt plead guilty to the one charge? What happened to the other charges?
If you do not know how our judicial system works, this could be a very long answer. First of all, Matt’s charges were based on a manipulated chat log. When someone is charged with receipt of child porn, the gov’t also charges transportation and production even if the porn was created and made by the alleged victim sending it. Since there was no date or time of when such porn was produced and sent, the gov’t dropped those charges. The gov’t purported the sent porn happened sometime in February 2008 and was on Matt’s computer which wasn’t purchased until May. I believe the gov’t decided that lie was to hard to maintain, so those charges were indeed dropped.
Let’s understand why anyone takes a plea innocent or guilty. If one does any research, one will find that the federal rate for plea deals is 97%. It’s not because the gov’t is efficient, quite the contrary. It’s because no one wants to spend time and money involved in going to trial. Not the gov’t, not lawyers, not judges. Once indicted, most people sit in pretrial conditions in some of the most horrible and inhumane jails in the country. This is coercive and a “softening up” if you will by design. In Matt’s case, he spent almost 4 years in pretrial. When the gov’t threatens decades and decades should a citizen lose at trial (and the gov’t will make certain that happens), taking a shorter sentence becomes the only option.
Matt was threatened with 70 years, all evidence pertinent to his defense was denied and the gov’t threatened his parents with imprisonment. When you can’t get a person to plea then by all means up the ante and go after loved ones. (Barrett Brown was threatened too with having his mom put in prison).
How difficult has this whole ordeal been for you and your family ?
If losing jobs, friends, home, and spending everything you ever had including retirement funds. on lawyers who have no interest in at least attempting to defend their client qualifies as difficult, then I would say it’s been quite difficult.
When Matt was arrested, you and your husband were financially secure, had your own home and good jobs. What happened after that?
If losing jobs, friends, home, and spending everything you ever had including retirement funds. on lawyers who have no interest in at least attempting to defend their client qualifies as difficult, then I would say it’s been quite difficult.
During the time Matt has been in prison, how have you managed?
We’ve been able to eat, to work and to have a place to live thanks to the compassion of others. When we returned from Canada, a wonderful Christian couple took Paul and I into their home. They fed us and took care of us for several months until we could find jobs.
What problems have you faced and how have you addressed them?
The problems are ongoing. We have a son in prison who we have been providing for the last several years. Like many who have loved ones incarcerated, we have had to shell out thousands of dollars for clothing, food and phone calls. Last week, we had to buy Matt shoes above and beyond the monthly amount we put on his account that pays for his phone calls, writing materials, stamps etc.
We are in debt for thousands which we will be paying for years. I am not complaining. This is a reality for so many people.
How is Matt currently doing ?
Matt amazes us. He has a strong faith and he is very resilient. He uses what he has endured to help others around him. We talk for a few minutes every evening and. Matt’s goal is to always end on a positive note. He is in a minimum security facility which allows him to go outside for as long as he wants. I mention this because he spent a year in an overcrowded dungeon with brown recluse spiders. He wasn’t able to go outside for all that time and there were no windows in the dungeon.
How are his spirits as of late?
Matt has a great sense of humour and he encourages others with it. He tries to stay positive because he has seen cruelty, suffering and brutality. He knows what it is like to descend into bitterness and despair and he doesn’t want to go there. I appreciate the fact that he likes to talk about who he has the opportunity to encourage.
We understand that Matt is going to be released soon? Can you tell us when?
Matt’s release date is September 11, 2018. He can get a halfway house if available anywhere from a year to six months out. We are still trying to find out how this all works.
How big has been the amount of support you have received regarding Matt and his case from people?
It’s relative, I think. Until we were in Canada for a little while, we had no support. Once award winning journalist Adrian Humphrey’s wrote his piece, then the word got out and people became more aware of the case. Support has been growing slowly. I think most people don’t understand how sex charges are a powerful weapon to silence. This is a tactic that has been used for years. I would hope that more people would read the articles and the court documents before dismissing Matt on account of the false charges. I would be remiss if I did not mention how personally encouraged Matt is having the support of the Courage Foundation and being one of the Foundation’s beneficiaries. A shout out from the DeHarts for standing with us.
Has Anonymous been supportive to you and your family?
To be honest, I believe many Anons are supportive and many are not, and that’s okay. Everyone has to make up his/her own mind. But, the Anons who have stood for Matt and his family are some of the most incredible people in our lives. When I share this with Matt, I can hear him smile when he says, “That’s my community.”
What kind of issues will you be facing when Matt is released?
Perhaps this is the scariest question of all. We are not certain, but we do know that Matt’s National Security case has not been closed out nor the fact that the FBI still has his identity and email addresses. Matt will be on a sex offender’s registry for 10 years. We live too close to a school and will have to move from a house that has been free to us. Since most people will not rent to someone who is has been labeled like Matt, we are put in a position where we will be forced to buy.
There are conditions that Matt must adhere to that unnerve us. For example he has to submit to “medical treatment” and there are no specifics about such treatment. From someone who has been drugged and tortured, obviously this weighs heavy on Matt’s mind. He also isn’t allowed to use the internet for 10 years.
And employment for Matt; it’s hard enough for people being released from prison to get a job. Imagine how impossible it is for guys with that label.
What’s next for the DeHart family ?
We are still searching for a lawyer who will help challenge Matt’s conditions. Matt has done some extensive research in the law library and has found a number of cases he believes would help him. His desire is to become a paralegal and on to a human rights lawyer. How to get there? I don’t know but we want to provide a safe environment and help him achieve his goals. We will all continue to take one day at a time and do what we can to take care of our son.
Thank you for your kindness and concern in sharing our story. — Leann
