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The federal indictment unsealed today charges 11 individuals with violating the Freedom of Clinic Entry (FACE) Act.
Chester Gallagher, Heather Idoni, Calvin Zastrow, Coleman Boyd, Caroline Davis, Paul Vaughn, Dennis Green, Eva Edel, Eva Zastrow, James Zastrow and Paul Botta have been charged with federal crimes in connection with the Mount Juliet Reproductive Health Care Clinic suspension. , Tennessee, on March 5, 2021. Gallagher, Idoni, Calvin Zastrow, Boyd, Davis, Vaughn, and Dennis Green were charged with the Civil Rights Conspiracy. All 11 defendants were charged with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Act (FACE Act).
The indictment returned by a federal grand jury alleges that Gallagher, Idoni, Calvin Zastrow, Boyd, Davis, Vaughn and Greene engaged in a conspiracy to defraud the clinic and prevent patients from receiving reproductive health services. According to the indictment, as part of the conspiracy, Idoni, Calvin Zastrow, Boyd, Davis and Green traveled from other states to Tennessee to participate in a clinic block organized by Gallagher, Idoni and others.
Beginning in February 2021, Gallagher used social media to promote a series of anti-abortion events planned for March 4-7, 2021 in the Nashville area, the lawsuit alleges. Other co-conspirators used Facebook to coordinate travel and logistics and identify other participants. In the year On March 4, 2021, Boyd and Gallagher announced the planned suspension of the Carafem Health Center clinic in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, for the next day. Gallagher described the ban as a “rescue” in his social media post. Boyd began a Facebook live stream of the clinic block on March 5, 2021 at 7:45 am. This live stream was partially titled “Mount Juliet, Tennessee, Rescue March 5, 2021” and will be live streaming the incident. The accomplices and others blocked the entrance of the clinic and prevented patients and staff from entering. The live stream also broadcast Boyd telling the audience that the patient was “a mother coming to kill her son” as team members tried to engage the patient and her friend.
The lawsuit further alleges that on March 5, 2021, the 11 individuals used force and physical obstruction to harm, embarrass, and obstruct the clinic’s staff and a patient seeking reproductive health services.
The lawsuit alleges that the 11 defendants violated the FACE Act by threatening and interfering with the clinic’s staff and the patient and obstructing the clinic’s staff and the patient because the clinic was providing the patient with reproductive health services. All defendants will be arraigned in U.S. District Court in Nashville.
If convicted of the crime, the seven felony defendants each face up to 11 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $350,000. The remaining five defendants face up to one year in prison, one year of supervised release and a fine of up to $10,000.
Justice Department Civil Rights Division Assistant General Kristen Clark and U.S. Attorney Mark Wildasin for the Middle District of Tennessee
The FBI investigated the case. Attorneys for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the Civil Rights Coordinator for the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee are prosecuting the case.
Anyone with information about violence, threats, or obstruction targeting patients or reproductive health care providers, or damage or destruction of reproductive health care facilities, should contact the FBI at www.tips.fbi.gov. For more information about clinic violence and the Department of Justice’s efforts to enforce FACE Act violations, please visit www.justice.gov/crt/national-task-force-violence-against-reproductive-health-care-providers.
The allegations contained in the lawsuit are only allegations. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law beyond a reasonable doubt.
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