TRI In The News

Chesterfield Man Ordered Held for Evaluation After Facebook Posts

From The Richmond Times-Dispatch

Original article available here

HOPEWELL, Va. --
A Chesterfield County man taken to a psychiatric ward last week after being interviewed by federal and local law enforcement officials about posts on his Facebook page was ordered detained for up to 30 additional days, his attorney said Monday.

Brandon J. Raub's mother, Cathleen Thomas, reported that she spoke with her 26-year-old son at a Monday morning hearing in the John Randolph Medical Center in Hopewell. "He is in good health. That I can tell you," Thomas said.

She referred questions to her son's attorney, the Charlottesville-based civil liberties organization The Rutherford Institute.

At the hearing, Raub, a Marine veteran who has criticized the government, was ordered by Special Justice Walter Douglas Stokes to be held in detention "for statements that are controversial and terrorist in nature," said the institute, which provides free legal services for people who have had their constitutional and human rights threatened or violated.

An Aug. 5 post on Raub's Facebook page said, "If you are unaware of the great amount of evil perpetrated by the American Government, I suggest you take … your head out of the sand. The day of reckoning is almost at hand."

Raub, who served military tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, was taken to the hospital Thursday after talking with Secret Service, FBI and Chesterfield police officers who questioned him at his home, he said in a phone interview Saturday. He was taken to the Chesterfield police station and then to the hospital, where he was being held against his will, he said.

"This man has not been charged with a crime. He's in a jail — you can call it a hospital, but he is confined, police are there, he cannot leave," said John W. Whitehead, an attorney who founded the institute. He said the institute is looking into whether due process was followed.

A spokesperson for the FBI Richmond office said the office had received a complaint about Raub's "threatening posts." She said the department had not arrested Raub. A Secret Service spokesman said the service also did not arrest Raub.

Chesterfield police issued a statement Monday saying Chesterfield mental health crisis intervention workers had recommended that police take Raub into emergency custody and bring him in for evaluation.

"Raub was placed in handcuffs after he resisted officers' attempts to take him into custody," Chesterfield Police Chief Thierry Dupuis said in the statement.

The statement denied that Chesterfield arrested Raub. But Whitehead said Monday that putting Raub in handcuffs legally constituted arrest.

The Chesterfield statement said that "Raub was evaluated by a Chesterfield mental health official, who determined that he should be held under a temporary detention order." He was then transported to John Randolph Medical Center for additional evaluation.

Raub's case and a YouTube video of him being taken into custody have attracted widespread attention.

"For government officials to not only arrest Brandon Raub for doing nothing more than exercising his First Amendment rights but to actually force him to undergo psychological evaluations and detain him against his will goes against every constitutional principle this country was founded upon, " Whitehead said in a statement. "Brandon Raub is no different from the majority of Americans who use their private Facebook pages to post a variety of content, ranging from song lyrics and political hyperbole to trash talking their neighbors, friends and government leaders."

On Monday, more than a dozen protesters gathered outside the Hopewell hospital during Raub's hearing, holding signs with phrases like "Free Speech — Free Brandon Raub." Passersby honked their horns in support.

"It could have just as easily been me," said Kacey Messier, a blogger who protested Monday. "I too criticize the government."

Raub's 23-year-old sister, Brittany Raub, pulled out a pocket-size copy of the U.S. Constitution after leaving the hospital Monday. She called her brother "a huge patriot" and "the most sane person I know."

Her mother, Thomas, said regardless of whether she agreed with her son's beliefs, his confinement raises questions under Americans' First Amendment rights.

"It's about freedom of speech," she said.

Thomas said her son founded a group called Richmond Liberty Movement. The organization's Facebook page emphasizes the importance of personal freedoms and respect for the rule of law and the constitution.

In the aftermath of her son's confinement, Thomas urged Americans to "question everything." "It's your right as an American citizen," she said.