{"article":{"id":116341,"heading":"Snitch alert: Geoff Kerns speaks to Seattle grand jury","author":"Snow","created":"2004-08-29 05:02:28","modified":"2004-09-18 06:31:20","last_modified":"Sat, 18 Sep 2004 13:31:20","article":"<p>Geoff Kerns was never exactly someone who you would call upstanding. When he was caught releasing mink in the late nineties he defecated in his own pants and cried in the police cruiser, earning him the nickname \"poopie pants.\" The animal rights movement pretty much parted ways with Geoff shortly after when he covered himself in ALF tattoos and began calling himself \"ALF Geoff,\" and therby proving his lack of security sense. He then moved on to anarchist groups in the Los Angeles and Orange County area but was shunned shortly after due to accusations of theft, egotism, and security lapses.  <br><br> In his testimony to the grand jury Geoff identified people by pointing them out in pictures, speculated as to who may know what people were responsible for crimes, and admitted to stealing from other activists and their families. He said that he was answering the grand juries questions because he had already been run out of activist circles and was afraid of jail. He also pointed out that he was afraid his testimony would eventually become public, because after all, \"snitches get stitches.\"  <br><br> Geoff Kerns has proven himself to be a coward, a thief, a liar, and now an assistant to the Bush administrations' War on Activism. He admits in his testimony that he is \"betraying people who trusted\" him. While Gina Lynn and Kim Beradi have been jailed and another awaits charges of perjury, Geoff skulks around Southern California thinking his traitorous ways are still hidden by the grand jury. <\/p>\n","contact":"","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"An interesting development in the Seattle grand jury came to light recently. When Allison Lance Watson was charged with perjury she became entitled to discovery in the form of other grand jury participants testimony. This discovery has revealed that Geoffrey Kerns turned snitch for the government. ","numcomment":7,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2004\/08\/116341.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":116370,"heading":"asdfsa","article":"thats fucked up. i used to know geoff.  this sucks if hes doing this.","author":"asdfs","parent_id":116341,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-08-30 05:30:54","modified":"2004-08-30 05:30:54","fileurl":""},{"id":116379,"heading":"are there copies of this testimony?","article":"This is a serious accusation.  Is there documentation?\r\n\r\nIf so, what can we learn from it?","author":"more rational","parent_id":116341,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-08-30 18:29:28","modified":"2004-08-30 18:29:28","fileurl":""},{"id":116429,"heading":"Yes","article":"There are copies of this documentation, but as of right now they pertain to Allison Watsons ongoing perjury case and are not being made available for the public. However, excerpts from Geoffs testimony will be made available in an upcoming issue of No Compromise from my undestanding.\r\n\r\nWhile it is important to remain skeptical of posts like this, I can vouch that I did see this testimony myself and I was also present outside the courthouse while Geoff testified. Anyone with questions can contact me at veganjoshua-at-yahoo-dot-com","author":"Josh","parent_id":116341,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-08-31 21:06:23","modified":"2004-08-31 21:06:23","fileurl":""},{"id":116730,"heading":"Lies","article":"Wow, never seen so many lies packed in one article.  Any one that knows Geoff knows that whoever wrote this article is full of shit.  Maybe it's an old girlfriend because it really sounds like it.","author":"Lindsey","parent_id":116341,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-09-11 15:09:08","modified":"2004-09-11 15:09:08","fileurl":""},{"id":116866,"heading":"check out this website","article":"this is one great webpage... it has us giggling for hours..\r\n\r\nwww.greggaraki.com\/geoffkerns.html","author":"we hate Geoff","parent_id":116341,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-09-14 03:19:58","modified":"2004-09-14 03:19:58","fileurl":""},{"id":116882,"heading":"Poop poop","article":"The correct URL is http:\/\/www.greggaraki.com\/geoffkerns\/geoffkerns.html","author":"*","parent_id":116341,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-09-14 17:58:55","modified":"2004-09-14 17:58:55","fileurl":""},{"id":117011,"heading":"Kerns' testimony","article":"Copies of the transcripts are available and excerpts are below. PGP key below for communications...\r\n\r\nExcerpts from the Testimony of Geoffrey Kerns before the Federal Grand Jury for the Western District of Washington at Seattle\r\nGrand Jury No. 03-1\r\nDated March 10, 2004; 3:48pm- 5:27pm\r\n\r\nJUROR:  \u2026Are you active with animal rights right now?\r\nGEOFF:  No.\r\nJUROR:  You are not associated at all?\r\nGEOFF:  I have completely disassociated myself from it. The only contact I have had with people regarding or who are involved in the animal rights movement has been through an arrest last July. It was for an old warrant. And pertaining to this. And after some of the questions, as I said, I was able to go back and clarify things.\r\n\r\nJUROR:  And you said you disassociated yourself with the whole animal rights. What\u2019s the reason for that?\r\nGEOFF:  There\u2019s a number of reasons. I was finding myself getting in a lot of trouble. That was one thing. I didn\u2019t want to destroy my life. I didn\u2019t want to do all this stuff, even though my ideals were so strong. And, you know, I didn\u2019t want to keep going through that. A lot of the people I had met were not the kind of people I liked associating with\u2026 On top of that, I burned a few bridges\u2026 I stole things from an activist house in Utah. They trusted me to be there, and I stole things from them. I was still-- I had stopped doing drugs and started drinking and falling into a crowd that glamorized theft from the rich. And I betrayed someone who was a good friend of mine. And I couldn\u2019t stand the torment of those people continually confronting me about that. And I totally fucked that up.\r\n\r\nGEOFF:  \u2026And, I mean, I don\u2019t do well in jail. You know, I\u2019m not the kind of person that can go in there and deal with the fights and the bigotry and all that. It\u2019s not easy on me. I\u2019m oh, God. And, I mean, I am claustrophobic. It scares the shit out of me.\r\n\r\nGEOFF:  I have a belief about government in general. I have a lot of beliefs. Believe me, I am not talking to you guys because I want to see these people go to prison. I am not talking to you because-- I am not talking to you because I like you. I am not talking to you because I trust you. I am not talking to you for any other reason than if I don\u2019t, I could go to prison.\r\n\r\nAssistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA):  ...Is it because you\u2019ve seen them at a lot of meetings, therefore you trust them or--\r\nGEOFF:  Can they handle going to jail, have they been to jail before, have they done a considerable amount of time, are they willing to do something like that again. Most people are going to rat people out, because they don\u2019t want to go to jail. Can they handle it.\r\nAUSA:  Is that why you want to get out? You can\u2019t handle it when things get tough?\r\nGEOFF:  I can\u2019t handle jail. I can handle being questioned. I can\u2019t handle jail.\r\n\r\nAUSA:  How do you justify breaking into another activist\u2019s home and stealing from them for the cause?\r\nGEOFF:  I don\u2019t justify it. I don\u2019t justify it. I don\u2019t pretend to\u2026 Breaking into an activist\u2019s home, that wasn\u2019t related to the cause. That was because I was fucked up. That was because I was going through a lot of things and learning about you know, new philosophies on how wonderful it is to shoplift and steal from the rich. And I went and did it. I was an idiot. I screwed up and betrayed people. There\u2019s no justifying that. At the time, I justified it by thinking, these people are rich. It\u2019s okay to take from them. I don\u2019t have money. They do.\r\n\r\nGEOFF:  I didn\u2019t come here today with the intention of saying all this. And these are things I have been trying to suppress in my mind. I am trying to be honest now, trying to break through the years of this way of thinking. And it\u2019s not an easy thing to do, really not an easy thing to do.\r\n\r\n\u201cAUSA:  So it\u2019s your testimony that you don\u2019t recall anyone involved? You don\u2019t recall any person involved in any animal rights or anti-fur protest or activity--\r\nGEOFF:  I recall seeing a couple of people. Just people that I recognized from L.A.\r\nAUSA:  Who did you see?\r\nGEOFF:  I saw [BLANK7]. S\/he was at the protest. And I don\u2019t remember specifically seeing them there but I would imagine [BLANK8] was there.\r\nAUSA:  Who is that?\r\nGEOFF:  [BLANK8]\r\nAUSA:  Who else did you see that you knew?\r\nGEOFF:  I believe maybe [BLANK]. I think s\/he might have been there.\r\n\r\n\u2026AUSA:  Ready to resume?\r\nGEOFF:  Actually, some of the questions that you have asked, as of now, have brought some things up that I didn\u2019t recall at first\u2026\r\nGEOFF:  Yeah. See, at the hotel, there\u2019s one other activist I can remember specifically. And that would be [BLANK9].\r\nAUSA:  What do you remember about [BLANK9]?\r\nGEOFF:  I just remember that s\/he was there, actually with [BLANK10].\r\nGEOFF:  If you could go over some of those questions again.\r\nAUSA:  Let\u2019s focus on, anyone else that you recall being involved in the fur exchange protest?\r\nGEOFF:  [BLANK11].  S\/he\u2019s also from Los Angeles.\r\nAUSA: Anyone else?\r\nGEOFF:  [BLANK11], [BLANK7], again, [BLANK8], and [BLANK1].\r\n\r\nAUSA:  Do you remember any of them driving up to the mink release with you?\r\nGEOFF:  I believe [BLANK1] might have been in the car with me.\r\nAUSA:  You said you were in the back?\r\nGEOFF:  Yeah\r\nAUSA:  Where was [BLANK1]?\r\nGEOFF:  If it was her\/him, it was next to me.\r\nAUSA:  You knew her\/him from Los Angeles, right?\r\nGEOFF:  I had met her\/him a few times. S\/he was kind of a not friend.\r\nAUSA:  What did you talk to her\/him about on the way up to the protest?\r\nGEOFF:  Everybody was kind of silent. There was music on in the car, I think.\r\nAUSA:  Do you recall that s\/he was the [person] next to you?\r\nGEOFF:  Not clearly. It might have been her\/him. I could say with a decent amount of certainty that it was her\/him, but I wouldn\u2019t want to bank a perjury charge on it.\r\n\r\n\u2026GEOFF: Look, I am trying to remember these things. A lot of them are things that I intentionally try to block out. I am trying to be honest here, clear all this up, and move on with my life. I am not involved with any animal rights group right now. I am working for a medical company trying to improve my life. I am giving you guys names, telling you, I mean.\r\nJUROR:  It just seems like you are protecting these people. You are protecting certain individuals that you shouldn\u2019t be. You are too bright for that.\r\nGEOFF:  I am telling you who was in the car with me.\r\n\r\n\u2026GEOFF:  I don\u2019t remember how other people were dressed. I don\u2019t remember if anybody had a mask. Like I said, I remember that [BLANK1] was in the car, and that is it. I am trying to think about conversations I had with [BLANK2].\r\nJUROR:  There was a protest going on as well as the mink release?\r\nGEOFF:  Right.\r\nJUROR:  Do you know how many people were involved in the mink release part?\r\nGEOFF:  I would estimate 15 or 20.\r\n\r\n\u2026GEOFF:  \u2026[BLANK2] told me that s\/he had driven to pick those people up that had all run into the woods and later caller her\/him. So, I mean, if s\/he had gotten away with the rest of them, s\/he\u2014I mean, I don\u2019t think s\/he would have done that. I mean\u2014\r\n\r\n\u2026GEOFF:  \u2026And it was the police or the FBI that ended up arresting me. Seriously, there were a lot of things I can\u2019t recall about it. I do know [BLANK2] told me later on that s\/he drove to pick them up. S\/he knows who they are.\r\n\r\n\u2026JUROR:  Had you ever heard [BLANK2]\u2019s name before coming up here?\r\nGEOFF:  I think I heard her\/his name. I think [BLANK3] were friends of hers\/his.\r\n\r\n\u2026GEOFF:  \u2026As I said, wanted to really start living my life and not just living unquestioning the way that everyone taught me to. We were taught to spout off statistics that we didn\u2019t know were true. We were taught to, you know, embellish things to make things look more tragic than they already were.\r\nJUROR:  And when you are saying that you were taught things, who was teaching you? Who was giving you the statistics and telling you what to say?\r\nGEOFF:  I mean, just everybody. Mainstream animal rights groups, they don\u2019t say where they get their statistics or anything like that. And, you know, people just say, you know, if you make things seem more extreme than they are, people aren\u2019t going to research it. They are going to believe it. And I don\u2019t know. It\u2019s-- the whole thing. I mean, you\u2019ve got to understand, I have had all this stuff drilled into my head all the time about, you know, don\u2019t snitch, don\u2019t name names, don\u2019t say things. And you have to understand that the vagueness and all that comes from a deep sense that I am betraying people that I loved. This is so hard for me.\r\nJUROR:  That is the believable Geoffrey. That is what we wanted to hear.\r\n\r\n\u2026Geoff:  \u2026I really don\u2019t remember her\/ him driving up there. The only person I remember was [BLANK1], and s\/he was sitting next to me\u2026\r\nAUSA:  Do you want a minute before we go on? I have put a stack of pictures in front of you. And they are labeled Grand Jury exhibits GK 1 through 13. Can you take a look at each one? If you know who the person is, tell us the name.\r\nGEOFF:  This one looks familiar. I don\u2019t know who s\/he is.\r\nAUSA:  Is that GK1?\r\nGEOFF:  GK1.\r\nGEOFF:  This is the only one that looks familiar, I don\u2019t know where I\u2019ve seen him before.  It was probably at the protest. This one looks familiar. I might have seen him in Salt Lake. GK5--\r\n\r\n\u2026AUSA: Do you know [BLANK3]?\r\nGEOFF:  No, I don\u2019t, not personally.\r\nAUSA: Okay.\r\nGEOFF:  [BLANK4], GK9.\r\nAUSA:  That\u2019s the next one that looks familiar after GK5?\r\nGEOFF:  Yeah. GK10 is [BLANK1]. GK11, I think, is [BLANK5]. GK12 I don\u2019t know. So these are the only ones that look familiar.\r\nAUSA:  Let me hand you three more exhibits\u2026Can you take a look at each set of pictures and tell us if you recognize the person in that?\r\nGEOFF:  It could be [BLANK5]. I don\u2019t know though.\r\nAUSA:  There\u2019s four pictures. So take a look at the four.\r\nGEOFF:  Oh.\r\nAUSA:  I believe you told us earlier that you recognized her\/his build.\r\nGEOFF:  Definitely her\/his build. I can\u2019t recognize the face though.\r\nAUSA:  Which exhibit is it that you are talking about?\r\nGEOFF:  It\u2019s GK14.\r\nAUSA:  What about GK15 and 16?\r\nGEOFF:  15, I don\u2019t really remember. Is that [BLANK6], actually?\r\nAUSA:  Who is [BLANK6]?\r\nGEOFF:  My old friend, [full name]. I am trying to look for the-- it could be her\/him, could not be her\/him. S\/he looks a little tall to be [BLANK6], compared to her\/him. It doesn\u2019t look like s\/he has a unibrow.  [BLANK6] had a very distinct unibrow. I don\u2019t know who that is, number 16.\r\nAUSA:  Would you look back at GK14 for a minute. That\u2019s the one I think you thought was [BLANK5].\r\nGEOFF:  Could have been, yeah.\r\nAUSA: Could you take a look and tell us if you think it is?\r\nGEOFF:  I think so, based on the build, but the face is really blurry.\r\nAUSA:  You believe it\u2019s [BLANK5] based on what you can see?\r\nGEOFF:  Yeah. I think [BLANK5] wears glasses. And based on the build, the lack of any fashion sense. That\u2019s serious.\r\n\r\n\u2026AUSA:  Are these people expecting to hear from you as far as what you have said here to the Grand Jury?\r\nGEOFF:  [BLANK1] told me to talk to her\/him about it. I have not talked to her\/him in the past couple of weeks, but--\r\nAUSA:  But s\/he asked you to tell her\/him what happened here. Are you planning to do that?\r\nGEOFF:  No. I was thinking about that last week.\r\n\r\n\u2026GEOFF:  Which organization?\r\nAUSA:  The animal rights organization that you were involved in.\r\nGEOFF:  I was involved in a number of them. But in general, with activism movements such as that, if you do something like what I am doing now, this is the general rules, snitches get stitches.\r\nAUSA:  Then there are consequences for you?\r\nGEOFF:  If anybody finds out, yeah.\r\nAUSA:  For example.\r\nGEOFF:  I don\u2019t know. Get beaten. Get hurt really bad.\r\nAUSA:  Had you heard that before, had somebody said if you do that, this is what\u2019s going to happen?\r\nGEOFF:  I mean, not specifically, not relating to this. But in general, that like I said, snitches get stitches. I mean, shit, I kicked this kid in the face for doing the same thing in Long Island.\r\nAUSA:  So you do have some fear for your safety because of what\u2019s happened here at the grand jury?\r\nGEOFF:  If anybody finds out, I don\u2019t know what happens. If they do, yeah.\r\nAUSA:  If it\u2019s any consolation to you, you haven\u2019t snitched on anyone.\r\nGEOFF:  I have talked about [BLANK5].\r\nAUSA:  No, you haven\u2019t. People showed you pictures of [BLANK5]. And you said, yeah, that\u2019s [BLANK5]. And you said you heard s\/he had picked up some people after the mink release. We already had that information.\r\nGEOFF:  It\u2019s still snitching. The thing you got to understand, you don\u2019t help them put people in jail. And if they didn\u2019t have a use for it, for me coming up here and doing that, then they wouldn\u2019t be bringing me up here.\r\n\r\n\u2026GEOFF: Right, but I picked her\/him from that. I am not trying to protect her\/him. If s\/he was driving the car, why would I say s\/he was not driving the car but pick her\/him out there?\u201d\r\n\r\n\r\nNOTE: The identities of the individuals identified or discussed by Geoffrey Kerns have been concealed for privacy purposes and an absence of commentary should in no way be perceived as accepting Geoffrey Kerns\u2019 testimony as being remotely accurate or truthful.\r\n\r\n\r\n-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----\r\nVersion: PGP 8.0.3 - not licensed for commercial use: www.pgp.com\r\n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\r\nVQdYcr4AoIjbRUo4KrqrQnfNbIsnMGtcEbY3\r\n=W8RO\r\n-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----\r\n","author":"nik at nocompromise dot org","parent_id":116341,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2004-09-18 06:31:20","modified":"2013-11-11 00:30:50","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2004\/09\/geoff_kerns-_bloomies.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2004\/09\/geoff_kerns-_bloomies.jpg"}}]}