Friday, June 26, 2009

Arrest of McDonald County white supremacist hits national media

The arrest of white supremacist Robert Joos of McDonald County as a result of the investigation into a 2004 racially-motivated bombing in Scottsdale, Airz., has hit the national media. The main arrests in connection with the bombing were brothers Denis and Daniel Mahon. Dennis Mahon is described as a leader in the national white supremacist movement.

From the local newspaper, the Arizona Republic:

Also charged in connection with the bombing was Robert Neil Joos of Missouri. After a search of his 200-acre property, Joos, 56, was charged Thursday in U.S. District Court in Missouri with being a felon in possession of firearms.

Joos' arrest stems from the Logan bombing investigation. An undercover agent told authorities that Mahon described Joos as a "longtime white supremacist associate and an expert on weapons, explosives, bomb making and general survival skills," according to court documents.

Authorities were scheduled to hold a briefing today in Phoenix to discuss the arrests and indictments.


From the Associated Press story:

The Missouri affidavit says the Mahons told an undercover federal agent that white supremacists used Joos's remote property in southwestern Missouri's McDonald County for survival training.
One of the Mahon brothers described Joos as "an expert on weapons, explosives, bomb making and general survival skills," the affidavit said.
Joos himself told undercover agents who visited his property of the importance of having firearms "in several locations" and said he used 18 caves to hide weapons, according to the affidavit.
Joos is expected to be appointed a federal public defender. There was no answer at that office Thursday night and there was no home telephone listed for Joos in southwest Missouri.


Articles ran in newspapers ranging from the Washington Post and the Taiwan Times to the Joplin Globe and the Springfield News-Leader.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Randy - Can you obtain the affidavit and post it online? Other media sources are quoting extensively from it. Thanks.