ATLANTA — Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr is charging 61 people with racketeering as his office is cracking down on what he says is a criminal enterprise to stop the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.

The indictment says the people tried to stop construction at the training site by any means necessary and that includes violence and money laundering.

Channel 2 Action News was there in May when Atlanta police raided a northeast Atlanta home, arresting three people: Marlon Kautz, Adele McLean, and Savannah Patterson.

Now, all three are featured prominently in the indictments of 61 people Georgia’s attorney general insists were part of a criminal conspiracy to stop the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.

In a news conference Tuesday afternoon Carr said the three and their organization, Defend the Atlanta Forest, raised money from unsuspecting donors and then used that money to fund the occupation of the construction site.

“As a result, thousands of good-faith donors gave millions of their own money to a certain charitable cause and their funds instead were spent on ammunition, surveillance materials and a drone,” Carr said.

Carr said many of the 61 engaged in acts of violence against police and the contractors building the site.

“On multiple occasions, members of the group torched and caused other damage to buildings and construction equipment including excavators and bulldozers.

The Cop City Vote Coalition, a group of people trying to get a citywide vote on the training center, blasted the indictments, saying in a statement that “these charges seek to intimidate protestors, legal observers and bail funds alike and send a chilling message that any dissent to Cop City will be punished.”

Carr contends that Defend the Atlanta Forest and the criminal defendants conspired to halt construction by any means necessary.

“Members of Defend the Atlanta Forest subscribed to a philosophy of anarchy. They hold a core belief that society should abolish police, government and private business,” Carr said.

Carr’s office decided to charge these 61 defendants in Fulton County, not DeKalb County where the training center site is located.

Under state law, he can do that with a RICO case.

In June, DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston withdrew her office from prosecuting any of these cases. That’s why the AG’s office took over.