Men sentenced to 5 years each in North Ga. militia plot

GAINESVILLE, Ga. - A federal judge in Gainesville has sentenced two men who pleaded guilty in a plot targeting government officials and U.S. cities to five years each in prison.

U.S. District Judge Richard Story announced the sentence Wednesday after a hearing in which 73-year-old Frederick Thomas and 67-year-old Dan Roberts addressed the court and apologized. It was the maximum sentence allowed under the plea deal.

The two pleaded guilty in April to conspiring to get an unregistered explosive and an illegal gun silencer.

They were among four men arrested in November after surveillance by an undercover informant who infiltrated their meetings at homes, during car rides and a Waffle House restaurant.

Co-defendants Ray Adams and Samuel Crump are charged with conspiring and attempting to make ricin and are moving toward trial.