Two confidential sources on the payroll of the FBI helped the government make its case against Fairbanks-area militia members who are accused of stockpiling illegal weapons and plotting to kill judges, Alaska State Troopers and others, according to information in federal court records unsealed Friday.

Neither source knew the other one was working with investigators, but both began assisting in the investigation last June, according to affidavits filed with the court in order to obtain search warrants earlier this month.

One is described as a convicted felon facing new fraud charges who agreed to cooperate in hopes of getting the charges reduced. That informant was an insider, promoted in February to the command staff of the Alaska Peacemakers Militia headed by Fairbanks resident Schaeffer Cox, one of those arrested on numerous federal and state charges.

The other is a person with no criminal record but in the affidavit is said to be someone who the defendants approached to buy grenades, silencers and other weapons because he was thought to "be in a position to produce possible weaponry." Some in the militia community have speculated that the weapons supplier might be William Fulton, former owner of the Drop Zone military surplus store on Spenard Road. He abruptly signed over his store to an employee and disappeared a few days after the Fairbanks arrests. Nothing in the affidavit gives any information about Fulton, whether he may be connected to the case, or why he might have vanished.

The affidavit says both sources were compensated for their assistance and will continue to be paid. Conversations between the sources and the defendants were audio or video taped with the consent of the informants.

Cox, Lonnie Vernon and his wife Karen Vernon, Coleman Barney and his wife Rachel Barney, and Michael Anderson face various state and federal charges in connection with an alleged conspiracy that included plotting to kill judges, an IRS agent and Alaska State Troopers. The group allegedly amassed a large weapons cache that contained automatic weapons, silencers and hand grenades, all of which are illegal, and numerous other high-powered weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

Indictments filed in federal court and criminal complaints filed in state court shortly after the arrests detailed what authorities believe was a significant threat to law enforcement and court officials who had overseen or otherwise been involved in cases involving Schaeffer Cox and the Vernons.

Cox had decided to ignore an order to appear in court on a misdemeanor weapons charge. The Vernons were facing possible foreclosure on their home relating to apparently failing to pay taxes.

Cox allegedly hatched a plot to kill state judges, troopers and others if authorities tried to arrest him. The Vernons are accused of separately considering killing the federal judge in their tax case, his family and an IRS agent.

The search warrant affidavits tell much of the same story -- how Cox, the Vernons and Coleman Barney went about acquiring myriad weapons they stored at their houses and in a trailer that eventually was left at the Fairbanks Ice Park. The documents make reference to several "militia weapons caches" thought to be located in the Fairbanks area.

The confidential source told authorities about "numerous handguns, shotguns and assault rifles that were strategically placed at doors and windows" in Vernon's home. "There were also several flak jackets and extra magazines strategically located," according to the affidavit.

Vernon and "CS-1" traveled to Anchorage for a militia convention in February -- Cox couldn’t go because his wife had just had a baby -- where they met up with "CS-2" in an effort to obtain grenades and explosives, according to the affidavit.

CS-1 drove to Anchorage and back to Fairbanks with Vernon and recorded their conversations on the trip, the affidavit said.