by Guy Page
Conservative undercover ‘guerilla’ journalist James O’Keefe was issued a notice of trespass by Vermont State Police in Jericho Monday night, state police say. Based on preliminary reports, O’Keefe and his crew apparently were investigating illegal immigration across the Canadian border into Vermont.
According to Vermont law enforcement sources, O’Keefe, founder of Project Veritas and now owner of O’Keefe Media Group (OMG), was detained by Vermont State Police in the Jericho area after a home owner who is a federal immigration officer complained he and his crew were hassling them.
David Peterson of the Vermont Dept. of Public Safety confirmed the basic narrative, without the immigration angle, in this email sent to VDC at 11:16 AM:
On 09/21/2024, around 4:22 PM, Vermont State Police were notified of a suspicious occurrence outside a residence in the town of Derby. It was reported that three individuals arrived in a white van type vehicle with an out-of-state registration plate and attempted to aggressively question the homeowner. The white van left the area prior to arrival of a Vermont State Police member.
Further investigation suggested one member of the group approached the homeowner feigning car trouble. When the homeowner offered assistance, the group began to question the homeowner on a completely different issue relating to his occupation. One of the individuals was reported to be holding a microphone. The homeowner requested the group be issued a notice of trespass for his property.
On 09/21/2024, around 7:15 PM, a member of the Vermont State Police was approached while parked on along a road in Jericho by James O’Keefe and two other individuals. They had arrived in the same white van that was reported to be involved in the earlier incident in Derby. The van was parked partially on the road surface a short distance from where the Trooper in his cruiser was parked. Vermont statutes require an operator of a motor vehicle to be in possession of their license certificate. Mr. O’Keefe verbally identified himself and subsequently provided a government issued ID.
Mr. O’Keefe was in possession of a microphone and the other individuals appeared to be recording the encounter. During the interaction, Mr. O’Keefe asked the Vermont State Police Trooper why he was parked in that location and offered that he was seeking to ask questions of select individuals about a topic he was to be covering in an upcoming production. As part of the encounter, the Vermont State Police issued Mr. O’Keefe a notice of trespass as had been requested. No other enforcement action was taken and the group then departed.
Vermont State Police has not identified any other encounters with Mr. O’Keefe on 09/21/2024. Preliminarily, there is no known contact between Vermont State Police and Mr. O’Keefe on 09/23/2024.
O’Keefe, reported on his X account Monday evening:
“My team and I have been detained near the Canadian border by the Vermont State police. I’m announcing something big. It’s not a video—it’s something I’ve been working on for a year. I’ll be on stage in Fort Worth, Texas, with Tucker Carlson tomorrow to make the announcement. Stay tuned.”
The announcement was promptly picked up by Tucker Carlson Network on X and a host of other prominent conservative news and commentary sites, including Alex Jones.
As reported in the Vermont Daily Chronicle, the northern border has seen the highest rate of terrorist-watch arrests, as well as the highest increase in illegal crossings.
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