Bohemian Grove Murder

[xmasdale]

Reort on AOL
Thursday, Nov 05, 2009


Briton accused of killing man in US

Last Updated: Thursday, 05 November 2009, 06:54 GMT

British medical marijuana grower faces court charged with murder

A British medical marijuana grower is to appear before a Californian court charged with murdering an employee of a shadowy organisation for the rich and powerful.

Andrew Brian Sharkey, 36, described in court documents as an English citizen, is accused of strangling 67-year-old Michael Van Tillman in a garage which housed the legal marijuana business.

Sharkey, who currently remains in custody in Sonoma County Jail, faces charges of murder in the first degree and abuse of an elder. He appeared in court on Monday and was remanded until Thursday's preliminary hearing.

Mr Tillman, who lived in a flat attached to the premises in Guerneville, worked for the nearby Bohemian Grove - a secretive organisation, membership of which has consisted of some of the world's most powerful people. He was murdered on June 25 after being strangled by a wire.
Sharkey was arrested two days later after he went to police claiming he witnessed the crime. If convicted, he faces a sentence of life with the possibility of parole after 26 years, Sonoma's deputy district attorney Traci Carrillo confirmed.

A second man, American Garry Allen Scott, 56, was later picked up by police in Arizona on suspicion of being an accessory. Scott has been charged with being an accessory to the crime.

Ms Carrillo said her records indicate that Sharkey has been living in the US since at least 1996. No mention is made in court documents as to where in the UK he originally came from.

Mr Tillman lived in a flat above the garage at which his alleged killers worked. Local reports describe him as a reclusive man.

Bohemian Grove, his place of employment, consists of a 2,700-acre compound at which past US presidents and high-ranking global figures have mixed with business leaders and other powerful men behind closed doors.

In 2000, filmmaker Alex Jones infiltrated the retreat with a hidden camera during which he documented some of the bizarre rituals that took place. The following year, it featured in the Channel 4 documentary series Secret Rulers of the World. Mr Tillman's association to the secretive society is not thought to have any connection to the murder.

Last Updated: Thursday, 5 November 2009, 10:54 GMT