Man accused of plot to murder Mounties sold his home 'to be part of the revolution,' documents allege

One of the men accused of plotting to murder RCMP officers during the border blockade at Coutts, Alta., earlier this year told an undercover officer he had sold his home so he "could afford to be part of the revolution," according to newly unredacted documents.

Anthony Olienick, 40, is charged with conspiracy to murder RCMP officers, alongside Jerry Morin, 41, Chris Lysak, 48, and Chris Carbert, 45. The four men also face weapons and mischief charges.

Additionally, Olienick has been charged with making or possessing an explosive device in relation to an allegation he had a pipe bomb that police say they seized from his rural property in the Municipality of Willow Creek, outside Claresholm, south of Calgary. He is next set to appear in Lethbridge Court of King's Bench on Nov. 14.

On Thursday, a Lethbridge Court of King's Bench justice lifted a publication ban on parts of four search warrant applications after a legal challenge from a group of news organizations, including CBC, Global, CTV, the Globe and Mail, Postmedia and the New York Times.

These new details are revealed in the applications, known as ITOs, that describe two key investigative tactics — the undercover operation and the wiretaps — used to justify charges, raids and further searches.

Information gathered during the undercover operation helped police justify an "imminent harm" wiretap, which is permitted to be executed without a judge's sign-off when there is an immediate threat to safety.

Police began listening to Olienick and Carbert's conversations on Feb. 11, 2022, with Morin's phone being wiretapped the next day.

"This shows they were communicating regularly while at the Coutts blockade," reads an investigator's notes in one of the ITOs.

As CBC News and The Fifth Estate previously reported, the documents alleged female undercover officers befriended Olienick and Carbert and gathered cellphone numbers from that meeting to wiretap. The officers also came to believe the men were co-ordinating a delivery of firearms to the protest site with Morin, despite not seeing the alleged shipment arrive.

To one of the women, Olienick "expressed a willingness to use force against police as well as die for the protest cause," according to the court documents.

The records also noted that the officer said, "Olienick was identified as having access to firearms and ammunition."

Undercover officers reported that Olienick had also sold his semi trucks, and that he said "he was security and had been there from Day 1."

Books on combat, covert communication found: docs

Following two weeks of protests and border blockades, police executed a "search by night" raid, searching several trailers where the men had  been staying. 

In total, 14 people were charged criminally.

After Olienick's arrest, police executed a search warrant on his Dodge Ram, where they say they seized three books: On Killing, All-In Fighting and The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception. 

The books detail tactics in unarmed combat, self-defence, covert communication and how militaries overcome the reluctance to kill.

Police also reported seizing three boxes of .22-calibre ammunition from the truck.

The justice also lifted a ban on investigators' references in the ITOs to parts of a widely circulated public Facebook video that had already been published in the media, including in a Fifth Estate documentary, The Convoy and The Questions.

The investigators referred to some specific statements Morin and his partner, Jaclyn Martin, made in the live-streamed video during the blockade, which were widely reported in the media at that time.

In the video dated Feb. 13, Morin and Martin said they were returning from the Coutts protest to their home near Olds, north of Calgary. 

In the video, Morin said there were no excuses, the investigator wrote, before adding, "this is war."

Then, the investigator noted, "Martin said it was no longer a keyboard war, that they needed to mobilize people.

"Morin said he was going home now but knew he needed to be there for the fight."

Martin also said, "this was a citizen army and asked people to come stand and hold the line, that they were not asking people to storm the beaches of Normandy," according to the investigator's summary.

Martin faces a mischief charge for allegedly obstructing Highway 4 near Coutts and a weapons charge for alleged possession of a firearm. She has been released on bail.

The four men are in custody, having been denied release on bail.

Their trials are scheduled to take place in 2023.

If you have tips on this story, please contact rachel.ward@cbc.ca.