Video: I'm lying in bed taunting and cursing some of the most notorious and dangerous cops in the world, the legendary Texas Rangers. Challenging this group of seasoned and famed Texas lawmen was one of the biggest mistakes of my life.
I cringe each time I watch this video and because of fear, I kept it unpublished for years. Although I am at peace with the rest of my behavior throughout this story, I am sincerely sorry for antagonizing and provoking the Texas Rangers.
I should not have told them, "fuck you," and the belittling words I used in our conversation were wrong and unprofessional. I should have tried harder to not be such a cocky motherfucker. I strongly recommend that no activists acts like I did in this video.
A Texas Observer reporter stated, "Barry posted a video on youtube that shows a conversation he had with a Ranger who threatened to “whup his ass.” The video shows Barry’s charm with law enforcement . . . he’s clearly taunting the Ranger, calling him “son” and “boy” and swearing at him several times. It’s not surprising that the Rangers want to put him in his place…”
I was being investigated for sending an anonymous letter and embarrassing the cops by luring them into illegally raiding a fake marijuana grow-house in Odessa, Texas. I hand selected a team of experts and spent five months and over $30,000 setting the trap.
The purpose of the Kopbuster sting was to bring attention to Yolanda Madden, a mother of two who had served half of her eight-year prison sentence after cops planted an ounce of methamphetamine in her car. My humanitarian mission worked and a federal judge released Yolanda Madden and she remains free today.
Within 24 hours of the sting, KopBusters.com generated millions of hits and crashed the server. According to the news-tracking website, Digg.com, KopBusters led the world as the most talked about story on the Internet and ranked #10 in most-searched-for-words on Google. KopBusters placed second on RawStory.com for the most Digg votes, and attracted over two million page views.
Although Yolanda Madden had been freed, the embarrassment and taunting cockiness of my success never freed the minds of law enforcement. The Rangers did not investigate the police who planted the drugs on Yolanda or the ones who illegally raided my trap house.
Instead the Rangers worked overtime to incarcerate me for the event I called, Kopbusters. Less than two years later, my kids would watch them arrest their mother and I would learn the FBI endorsed and cosigned the entire operation.
It was early in the afternoon and I was napping in our Austin, Texas apartment. I awoke to my fourteen year old daughter, Kenzie, shouting, "Daddy, Daddy! The cops have Momma."
We had recently been raided for an unrelated Kopbuster sting so Kenzie had already locked the front door. It was an instinctive response from our family's practice of locking down the house when the news of a nearby cop was announced.
As I stared into the face of my terrified daughter, I could hear the familiar sound of a "cop knock." Only one genre of people knock like that.
Kenzie quickly explained she and Candi were lured outside to the parking lot after a lady knocked on our door and claimed she hit our parked Suburban. The woman said she wanted Candi to inspect the damage for insurance purposes.
Upon inspecting the Suburban, the undercover agent pointed to an existing dent and Candi recalls she knew at that moment it was a set-up. Within seconds, the Texas Rangers swarmed in and arrested Candi.
Kenzie managed to escape by ignoring their commands to stop. She ran the necessary ten yards to re-enter our home and lock the door.
The cop banging on the front door was shouting for me to exit my house. He advised there was a warrant for my arrest. I knew at that moment the charge was a misdemeanor because if it was a felony, they would have already crashed through my door.
In my well known fashion, I invited the cop to the sliding glass door as I repeatedly ordered him to have self-intercourse. My excuse was that I wanted us to see each other but I really wanted to film him and learn as much as I could about Candi's arrest and my warrant.
The recording of that moment is in a box of old treasure trove videos I have collected over eleven years of activism. I am not ready to dig in that deep but when I do, I promise to share those crazy moments with you.
Candi went to jail and I remained at large for three days. I snuck around wearing disguises until my arrest could be planned. A RawStory reporter, Stephen Webster, was with me much of the time while I continually switched cars and moved around only at night. It was at this time I published the video of the verbal fight I had with the Texas Rangers and I sued them for 40 million dollars.
Surrounded by a drove of fans and with my lawyer in tow, I turned myself in at the Texas State Capitol. Thirty minutes before I arrived, a bomb threat was called in to the capitol.
I was totally unaware of the threat and the police never suspected me as the source. Although I had a reputation as one of their harshest critics, they knew I was a non-violent person and would never even consider such an act.
I gave one of the craziest performances of my life before the waiting State police took me to their cage. I'll show the film of the speech and share some secret details with you in an upcoming installment of "Former Narc Turned Humanitarian - A Life Series by Barry Cooper"
The statute of limitations on the misdemeanor charge of False Report To A Peace Officer is 24 months. Candi and I were arrested 22 months after the date of the Kopbuster Sting offense.
The Texas Rangers had lifted our finger prints from the anonymous letter I drafted to tempt the cops into illegally raiding the house. The letter explained the dwelling was being used to grow marijuana and there was a large sum of cash hidden in the fireplace. I am eager to show you the letter and tell you all about it but I must save that story for another day.
I was absolutely certain the charges of False Report To a Peace Officer leveled at us were improper because I instructed Candi to give the letter to an Odessa pastor. She told the clergyman to give it to the police. It's only illegal to give a false report to a cop but not to a preacher.
The Rangers and I both knew the charges would not stick but we became a victim of a saying that is common among law enforcement officers. You may beat the rap, but you won't beat the ride." One month later, the charges were dropped.
“The county attorney’s office did not believe they had enough facts or evidence to convict Barry or Candi,” James Gill, Cooper’s Austin-based attorney, told RAW STORY. “In other words, they did not commit any crime.”
At this time, I dropped the lawsuit and I unpublished the video.
Unbeknownst to us and immediately after the Odessa sting, the FBI submitted a secret report to all law enforcement agencies instructing them to conspire together and shut me down. A popular hacker group discovered the secret report in a trove of government documents and they released them online.
Pay attention to the paragraph I outlined in red.
The Texas Observer ended their report with this correct analysis of the ordeal.
"It’s not surprising that the Rangers want to put him in his place, but our police should be above petty vendettas — and it’s hard to see how putting elite officers on the trial of a misdemeanor offense is anything but a petty vendetta. In short, they’ve done nothing but prove Barry’s contention that law enforcement priorities in this state are skewed at best, and corrupt at their worst."
One week later as I was walking through my parking lot, to my horror, I was swarmed by a dozen cops in unmarked cars. This time, the arresting officers almost shot me. Shortly afterwards, I fled the United States with my family and have not returned in almost six years.
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Barry being arrested photo credit: Stephen Webster RawStory and TrueSlant
Barry in patrol car photo credit: Stephen Webster RawStory and TrueSlant
Video of Candi giving account of arrest credit: American Freedom Radio Youtube Channel