A federal judge cited public safety concerns as reasoning to why she denied bond to four Northeast Georgia men accused of plotting attacks against government buildings and employees.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan S. Cole said in a written detention order released Monday "there are no conditions of release for any of the defendants that will reasonably assure the safety of the community."

The four men include Frederick Thomas, 73, of Cleveland, as well as Dan Roberts, 67, Ray Adams, 55, and Samuel Crump, 68, all of Toccoa. Each of the men are accused of being members of a covert group within a larger Georgia militia group.

A federal grand jury indicted Thomas and Roberts at the beginning of November on counts of conspiring to obtain an explosive and possessing an unregistered silencer.

At that same time Adams and Crump were indicted on counts of conspiring and attempting to make ricin, a biological toxin.

On Tuesday, Gainesville attorney Dan Summer, who represents Crump, appealed the ruling to deny bond to his client.

During the final day of a three-day bond hearing last week, each of the men's attorneys indicated they planned to appeal the ruling.

The defense also motioned for and was granted an extension to file pretrial motions. The defense initially had 14 days from the time of arraignment to file any pretrial motions, but attorneys raised concerns that period didn't give them enough time to review evidence.

At bond hearings last week and Nov. 9, several recorded conversations were played to the court, in which the four men discussed their apparent plans to attack government buildings with explosives, shoot Department of Justice employees and spread ricin along roadways in major U.S. cities.

But defense attorneys argue those conversations were taken out of context and the FBI structured the entire plan.

Defense attorney Jeff Ertel, who represents Thomas, said the men were, in fact, attempting to organize a registered militia group to serve as "the governor's army."

Ertel, along with the other three defense attorneys, said a cache of 52 guns and 30,000 rounds of ammunition found at Thomas' home in Cleveland, as well as dozens of others guns seized from other defendants' homes, were to be used to arm the men in their efforts to protect Georgia from any threats, but not for use in domestic terror attacks.

Cole, though, concluded the government presented sufficient evidence to believe the defendants took concrete steps to carry out their plans and weren't just exercising their Second Amendment rights guaranteed by the Constitution.