One of the four Ford County residents accused of committing crimes to support a private militia group changed his plea to ‘guilty’ in federal court in Urbana Tuesday. Ellis “EJ” Mack has agreed to cooperate with authorities.

CLARENCE, Ill. (AP) — A former sheriff's deputy and purported ringleader in the bombing of a Minnesota mosque emerges in court documents as a sometimes-threatening figure with anti-government views who also wrote books and attracted others into his shadowy group.