Trio charged in alleged summit terror plot CHICAGO, May 19 (UPI) -- Three would-be NATO protesters were charged in Chicago with planning terror attacks on Obama campaign headquarters and Mayor Rahm Emanuel's home, police said. They were arrested in a raid Wednesday night, but formally charged Saturday as heads of state began arriving in the city for the NATO summit. The three are Brian Church, 27, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Jared Chase, 24, of Keene, N.H. and Brent Vincent Betterly, 24, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Betterly told police he lived in Massachusetts. They were charged in state court with possession of an explosive or incendiary device, conspiracy to commit terrorism and providing material support to terrorism. The newspaper said Chicago undercover police had infiltrated a group of NATO summit protesters and observed them as they made Molotov cocktails. Britain's The Guardian newspaper said the investigation took a month. Each of the three is being held on a $1.5 million bond, The Guardian said. Lawyers representing the men said the charges are trumped up to intimidate protesters. "We cannot say enough that we believe that these charges are absolutely ... very trumped up charges," Sarah Gelsomino of the Peoples Law Office said, The Guardian reported. Clearly in an attempt to continue this intimidation campaign on activists. Charging these people who are here to peacefully protest against NATO for terrorism, when in reality the police have been terrorising activists in Chicago, is absolutely outrageous. Anti-NATO protesters disrupted traffic in downtown Chicago Friday following the first official demonstration tied to the NATO summit.