Manchester, Connecticut – A White, working-class family has fallen into economic hardship after an “aggressive” FBI investigation into their 15-year-old son’s chatroom activities resulted in a military-style raid of their home. After a lengthy trial process, the family is now turning to the community for help as they struggle to stay afloat.

According to Jeremiah Rufini, father of a 15-year-old boy who was a member of a chatroom monitored by federal agents, he has incurred “very substantial” legal expenses in the aftermath of a politically motivated investigation. While their son was spared jail time as a result of a criminal trial, he was ultimately convicted of misdemeanor breach of peace and sentenced to juvenile probation.

“Our family has unexpectedly incurred very substantial (for us) legal expenses as the result of an aggressive investigation against our fifteen-year-old son for posting offensive memes in a private group chat,” Rufini explained in a GiveSendGo campaign. “While the investigation resulted in juvenile probation and a minor misdemeanor conviction for breach of peace, our home was raided by the FBI and we were forced to come up with thousands of dollars in non-refundable bail money and legal fees.”

“We are a working class family that lives paycheck-to-paycheck, and bankruptcy is a near certainty. It will be a struggle to keep our home without help,” he continued.

Rufini went on to describe how their run-in with the FBI began after their son struggled to cope with a family cancer diagnosis and added household responsibilities. According to Rufini, the stress from several unrelated family deaths led their son down a “dark” path of anti-social behavior. In the end, he was recruited into online “group chats” that targeted “teenage traditionalist Catholics” with “extreme political content.”

“None of our children, including my son, had been raised with cell phones…It became necessary for him to have a phone so we could communicate while he was alone at my father’s house caring for my grandmother,” he explained. “He spent a lot of time alone with nothing to do but wait and think…His interests in history and theology led him down a rabbit hole where he was recruited into group chats targeting teenage traditionalist Catholics with extreme political content.”

“We are a working-class family that lives paycheck-to-paycheck, and bankruptcy is a near certainty. It will be a struggle to keep our home without help…”

Jeremiah Rufini, GiveSendGo

“We later learned that these chats were being closely monitored and possibly operated by FBI agents as part of an effort to investigate Traditional Catholics that was downstream of a broader domestic investigation spurred by the events of January 6th,” he continued.

Rufini claims that after his son joined these dubious chatrooms, he was asked by anonymous strangers to take pictures of himself spreading propaganda on picnic tables while wearing ski masks and operating firearms. After his son became skeptical of the things being demanded of him, he deleted the chats, sending the FBI into what he calls a “panic.”

“(My son) was being drawn deeper and deeper into these chat groups and goaded into doing things like take pictures of himself in public wearing ski masks and (printing) out memes and leave them on picnic tables,” Rufini claimed. “They would ask him if he had access to guns…and encourage him to sneak photographs of the guns and post them.”

“Ironically, our legal troubles began when he had an attack of conscience and abruptly deleted all of his chat apps…The FBI panicked and made the assumption that he must have connected to a terror cell in real life and “gone dark” ahead of some potential violent act. There was no such plan and they had no evidence of one,” he continued.

The behavior being asked of Rufini’s 15-year-old son would closely mimic that of previous FBI “honeypot” operations like Atomwaffen, the now-infamous “satanic death cult” run in part by FBI informant Joshua Caleb Sutter. The FBI would attempt to use Sutter to justify a crackdown against “white supremacist domestic terrorism” in the United States by transforming Atomwaffen into a hotbed of terroristic activities and other moral depravities, mostly involving its youngest members.

Fortunately, while Rufini’s son made it out unscathed, the family’s dealings with the FBI were just beginning.

“(The FBI) spen(t) two weeks fabricating a legal pretense for a search warrant of our home. At 10:00pm on a Sunday evening we were dragged out of our home at gunpoint, handcuffed and locked in a van while they searched our home for evidence of this imagined plot,” said Rufini. “Having found no such evidence, they seized my brother’s firearms and had my son hospitalized on mental health pretenses.”

“(My son) was being drawn deeper and deeper into these chat groups and goaded into doing things like take pictures of himself in public wearing ski masks and (printing) out memes and leave them on picnic tables…They would ask him if he had access to guns…and encourage him to sneak photographs of the guns and post them.”

Jeremiah Rufini, GiveSendGo

“We didn’t learn until that night the scope of the investigation or the amount of time and resources expended on my son. We know him to be a kind and conscientious boy who is active in his community and church. He is a volunteer firefighter and altar boy…The response seemed very disproportionate,” he continued.

According to a bond receipt provided by Jeremiah Rufini on social media, the family paid a total of $5400 to bail their teenage son out of custody pending trial. To make matters worse, criminal charges were brought against not only their son but also Jeremiah and his brother, who once allowed their son access to family firearms.

“It soon became clear that there was no grand conspiracy or imminent danger, and the FBI lost interest, but we have been mired in the aftermath ever since. There was a DCF (Department of Children and Families) investigation that went nowhere but required us to go to daily appointments for months,” said Rufini.

“The state brought criminal charges against my son that were eventually disposed of but required a legal battle that lasted months. When his charges were disposed of, my brother and I were charged for allowing my son to target shoot based on the assumption that we must have somehow known that he was involved in political extremism online. It seems unlikely to amount to much but has cost us over $20,000 we don’t have so far,” he continued.

“We later learned that these chats were being closely monitored and possibly operated by FBI agents as part of an effort to investigate Traditional Catholics that was downstream of a broader domestic investigation spurred by the events of January 6th.”

Jeremiah Rufini, GiveSendGo

As economic fortunes worsen, Jeremiah Rufini is now turning to the greater Catholic community and anyone sympathetic to his battle against government overreach for financial assistance. A selfless worker for a faith-based non-profit that cares for the homeless, Jeremiah says he has extended his credit as far as it can go and is worried about mortgage payments as his family prepares to enter the holiday winter season.

“I have been reluctant to seek help but the threat of losing our home has become very real…My wife stays at home and home schools our younger children while managing a small homestead. We are paying legal bills by not paying other bills. Our credit is extended as far as it can go so our kids can have Christmas,” he said.

“Our son is racked with guilt and believes himself to be at fault for our dire financial straits. While it is very humbling for me as someone who has always provided for others to ask for help, I know it is sometimes necessary and for us that time has come,” he continued.

To verify the claims, the Justice Report reached out to Aristophanes, father, veteran, and regular contributor to the Federalist. Most importantly, he was among the first social media users to spread news of the Rufini family’s plight and had intimate contact with Jeremiah. According to him, what was happening to the Rufini’s could only be considered a “travesty,” and viewed the GiveSendGo campaign as a unique opportunity for people to fight back against attacks on working-class Americans and their freedom of political expression.

“If the right wants political change and to be seen as an alternative, the foundation of any political gains are to be made by showing people who they can provide for and protect them,” said Aristophanes in a request for comment on X, formerly Twitter. “I’m glad Rufini’s GiveSendGo is doing well, because it’s a way for people to put their money where their mouth is and protect people from the government.”

“(It’s) just a travesty of a situation; we can’t stop the FBI from no-knock raiding 15-year-olds for logging off to touch grass, but we can try to bring relief to the victims of that situation,” he said. “If we cannot shield even one family from this regime, how will we ever prevail against it?”

An attempt was made to contact the Rufini family by the Justice Report, but an anonymous source close to the matter advised that the family is not speaking to the media until it confers with their legal counsel.

The FBI, which has recently faced myriad calls for its complete abolishment in the face of scandal, corruption, and accusations of anti-White and anti-Christian bias, has been involved in numerous armed raids against presumably innocent people. In 2022, a Christian, pro-life activist and his family were raided by the FBI, an act which caused his wife to suffer from three miscarriages. An investigative report by journalist Joeseph Jordan revealed that the FBI complaint that triggered the raid stemmed from a Jewish, anti-Christian bigot with a concerning social media history.

The story of the Rufini family and its ongoing battle with FBI repression is ongoing and updates will be provided as they emerge.

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