Fringe Extremist Facing New Federal Charges:

Robert Joos mug shot

A McDonald County man who federal investigators say has ties to brothers who are white supremacists charged for a bombing in Arizona is facing new federal weapons charges.

Robert Joos, 56, of Powell, Mo., made his first appearance in federal court on Tuesday on the indictment and pleaded not guilty.

The indictment, which was unsealed on Sept. 9, is for two counts of unlawful transport of firearms and one count of transporting explosive materials interstate.

Law officers arrested Joos at his compound in June as part of an investigation into a bomb sent by mail in 2004 in Scottsdale, Ariz., that was racially motivated.

Undercover operatives met for survival training with white supremacists at Joos' property in McDonald County.

Prosecutors also say the first call that one of the twin bombing suspects, Dennis and Daniel Mahon, made after the bombing was to Joos.

Joos, was convicted in 1997 for unlawful use of a weapon, therefore he cannot legally possess any firearms.

In 2004, another jury convicted him of a felony for operating a motor vehicle without a valid license (his stance was it was because of his religion.) He was sentenced to two-years in prison and then placed on parole which ended on January of this year.

While in the county lock-up awaiting trials, Joos unsuccessfully sued the sheriffs department of McDonald County three times this decade over his mistreatment, and to challenge his incarceration.

According to an investigator’s affidavit filed this summer when Joos was originally indicted, undercover agents and a confidential informant say they found weapons and ammunition on his 200-acre property.

The informant says in an affidavit that Joos taught him “how to make napalm and agreed to train other people.” The affidavit goes on to say that Joos provided undercover ATF agents with instructions, including what soap to use, to make a homemade napalm and to train other people.

The informant also said Joos talked about using caves on his property to hide from law officers “and often discussed stocking the caves with weapons, food, water and other supplies . . . to be able to avoid capture or attack by the government or other adversaries.”

In 1994 authorities in McDonald County raided the self-proclaimed preachers compound, The Sacerdotal Order of the David Company, and were stunned at what they found. Stockpiled inside the compound were weapons, ammunition and dynamite. Joos, claimed the weapons were meant for trading. Joos was release from prison in 1997.

At the hearing on Tuesday, prosecutors argued for Joos to be held without bond. U.S. Magistrate James England granted that order, and also ordered the case to proceed to trial.



***Joos compound raid image courtesy of Lucky Dog Blog