You are relying on a quote to say that the acts were illegal. Reliance on that quote is also the basis for all of your conspiracy charges.
Again, what specific act (not what judgment of the author of the article) did one of the investigators commit that breaks what law? (I suspect the difficulty in answering this question is the same difficulty that prosecutors in VA face or the investigators would have been charged with a crime!
If you cannot cite such a specific criminal act (including the section of the code violated), then the very title of this thread is hyperbole.
You can prevent any "attack on [your] credibility" (none has been intended) by pointing to the specific act and the law that was broken.
This isn't an opinion piece, it is a news article. I cited two, perhaps three, laws that were broken. And the paper it's reported in is anti-gun, so the article is no worse than a fair representation of what happened probably slanted against VA as much as possible. As to conspiracy and what constitutes it, my knowledge is based on education in law and practical knowledge in my profession. Conspiring to commit a crime and then crossing state lines to do it is a Federal Offense in and of itself on two counts. (18 USC various chapters on specifics) The law in VA makes it quite clear that they would be charged with a crime if any repeat occurences happened. That's why bloomdick has stayed the hell away since.
op cit
The crime of conspiracy is actually a separate criminal offense. Hanford v. United States, 231 F.2d 661 (4th Cir. 1956). As an example, one can be charged with criminal conspiracy to defraud a bank pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 371, and simultaneously be charged with the specific counts of bank fraud (which were the object of the conspiracy) pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1344. In other words, the underlying crime (bank fraud) and the conspiracy to commit the underlying crime are two separate offenses. Furthermore, all members of the conspiracy are equally guilty of all crimes committed pursuant to and in furtherance of the conspiracy. For example, if, in the process of committing the bank fraud pursuant to the conspiracy one of the co-conspirators illegally laundered the money proceeds, all of the conspirators would be criminally liable for the unlawful money laundering as well as the bank fraud and criminal conspiracy. United States v. Zabic, 745 F.2d 464, 474-75 (7th Cir. 1984).