There's nothing like the conspiracy theorist.

You know who I'm talking about.

These are the people who say the moon landing was fake.

They are the ones who believe big, black tractor-trailer rigs are coming to collect your vast arsenal, including your young'uns BB guns.

They are the ones who believe at least 20 people shot JFK.

And as I experienced over the last two days, they are the ones who say this website purposefully withheld mugshots of The Rockfish 15.

I typically try not to lash out at readers but I'll make an exception this time and say, “Well, here are your mugshots. Now leave me alone.”

I especially enjoyed the comment that said, “No mug shots (sic) are just this sites (sic) way of knowing that law enforcement butters his bread.”

If I could finagle a way to get advertising dollars from every arrest story we run, I would retire, burn every computer-related device I own, buy me an Airstream and film camera and travel the vast United States highway system in search of Roadside America artifacts and never look back.

Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revised album would play on a constant loop as I seek out the motor lodges, muffler men, neon and other kitsch that makes me a happy person.

So, yes, here are your mugshots, now leave me alone.

The truth of the matter, so all you conspiracy theorists can have something else to chew on, is that on Thursday when the story broke through an email from the United States Attorney's Office, my mind was on getting the story out, not if there were mugshots available.

As I would discover, after shoveling through a 54-count indictment, there were people more concerned about the absence of mugshots than the effort I put forth to getting at the bottom of the story.

As I explained early on, the United States Attorney's Office doesn't do like our local law enforcement offices do and send mugshots with virtually every story and at the time I had no idea the Rockfish 15 were being booked through the Wake County Detention Center, which was the mugshot source.

It became evident that, in the eyes of the conspiracy theorists, I had failed in my efforts as a journalist because there were no mugshots.

Well, here's your mugshots, now leave me alone.

While I was determined to get to the meat and potatoes of the story and happy to use our standing Department of Justice logo, which I have used in an overwhelming number of fed stories, there were others hiding behind fake names and fake email accounts accusing me of the same corruption that The Rockfish 15 are accused of.

That's fine. I know the truth of the matter and the truth of the matter goes something like Don Draper says in Mad Men and I quote, “Well, I hate to break it to you, but there is no big lie. There is no system. The universe is indifferent."

This quotation serves us non-conspiracy folks well. The ones who get their news from left and right wing alternative websites that bend the truth just enough to fit their respective political views no matter it is now a lie will go on believing that I purposefully didn't run mugshots out of some vast conspiracy.

Again, the simple fact was I didn't know there were any mugshots in the beginning and didn't care. My job is to gather information, not go on a hunt for mugshots.

So after consulting with sources yesterday during a lull and after the conspiracy theorists who believe 9-11 was an inside job and the president is going to one day declare martial law so he can have four more years complained about, all things, no mugshots, I got the mugshots.

Now I ask, now that you have seen their faces, does it make any difference? Does it change the story? Can you conjure up more conspiracies that maybe those pictured are someone else? Are you going to accuse me of some other deceit?

If these arrests had been made by local authorities, we would have had the mugshots sent with the initial press release. They weren't arrested by local authorities. They weren't taken to the Halifax or Northampton jail. They were arrested by the FBI and all press releases were sent through the United States Attorney's Office, which doesn't send mugshots.

All of this is to say people who sit behind fake email accounts and fake screen names shouldn't be casting stones that the media was involved in some mugshot coverup because you have your mugshots. Now leave me alone — Lance Martin

Lance Martin is editor and publisher of rrspin.com