Navy Veteran Exposes Disturbing DHS Presence Near Ferguson — and Gets Fired for It

by Top Right News on November 16, 2014 in Uncategorized

by Jason DeWitt | Top Right News

With a Grand Jury decision that may spare Ferguson, Missouri Officer Darren Wilson an indictment this week, concerns about violence have never been higher. Protesters and agitators — and even the KKK — are streaming into Ferguson and the St. Louis area, making threats and ratcheting up the tension.

And in the run-up to this decision, one man documented some very strange activity from the Department of Homeland Security right outside Ferguson this week — and paid a steep price for it.

Mark Paffrath was leaving work from the Drury Plaza Hotel in Chesterfield, Missouri, Thursday when he noticed something unnerving — about 100 Department of Homeland Security vehicles in the parking garage, Argus News Now reported.

Paffrath snapped a couple of photos and took a short video that he uploaded to his Facebook page:

“Why are all the cop cars here…I wonder if it has anything to do with Ferguson,” his Facebook status read. Paffrath also included #Ferguson #NoJusticeNoPeace, News Now added.

Drury Plaza Hotel in Chesterfield is about 25 miles southwest of Ferguson where protests erupted since Darren Wilson, a white police officer, fatally shot Michael Brown, a black 18-year-old in August. A grand jury is expected to announce its decision any day on whether Wilson will be indicted — and many are concerned about more unrest should the decision be no.

As Jon Street reported:

Shortly after arriving to work on Friday, Paffrath told News Now he was called into the office of hotel general manager Jeff Barker and told to remove the photos and video. Paffrath did — and then finished his shift.
But just 30 minutes after Paffrath arrived to work Saturday, Jim Bohnert, director of security for Drury Hotels Company, told Paffrath he had been fired, News Now reported. His Facebook posts apparently cost the hotel chain a $150,000 contract with the Department of Homeland Security, the outlet added.
As if that wasn’t enough, Paffrath also claimed Bohnert told him, ”[Y]ou’re a terrorist and you have dishonorably served your country by posting the photos and video.”
When Paffrath told Bohnert he never put the location of the vehicles on the photos or the video, Bohnert reportedly said “all they have to do is click on your name and see where you work.” Paffrath said Bohnert concluded their conversation by saying “if you repost the photos and video you will have the Federal government knocking on your door and you will be incarcerated.”

Of course it seems ridiculous to persecute an employee for posting something that could easily have been posted by any number of guests during the time this massive DHS presence was to be evident at the hotel. If this is what the Obama’s Administration thinks is “stealthy”, then their incompetence from everything from Benghazi to ISIS to the border makes perfect sense.

Paffrath, a U.S. Navy veteran who served in the Middle East before coming home to the St. Louis area, was stunned by his dismissal, but did not seem to be taking it too hard. He had this to say on his Facebook page Saturday:

Drury Hotels General Manager Jeff Barker did not respond to requests for comment Sunday.

But a front-end manager at the hotel reportedly wrote a message to all employees at the location, saying “The Department of Homeland Security Group: Confidential in nature, which means brag to your family about it after they check out.”

Yeah, it’s so “confidential” that they are parking 100 vehicles in plain sight at one of the St. Louis area’s largest hotels. Something does not smell right. We will stay on top of this story as it develops…

Video report below: