He spent Oath Keepers money on a deposit on a house in Montana, on haircuts and liquor, on storable food reserves and on personal riot gear, according to some current and former members and some of Mr. Rhodes’s family members. They also said he had a habit of buying expensive military equipment and leaving it in caches in people’s homes around the country for future “operations.”
Bank records reviewed by the Journal show thousands of dollars of Oath Keepers funds spent on goods and services near the town in Montana where Mr. Rhodes lived until recently, including at an auto-repair shop ($12,424), pet store ($83.50), dentist ($504), bar ($886), gun store ($9,974) and a lingerie and adult-goods shop called Alley Katz Nighties N Naughties ($229). The group also spent money on phone games ($275) and at an online perfume shop Fragrancenet.com ($256).
“He used that thing as a piggy bank,” said Ed Wilson, an Army veteran who managed information technology for the Oath Keepers in 2015 and said he alerted the board about spending. Mr. Wilson said he quit when he saw nothing was changing.
