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A McDonald County self-proclaimed pastor was arrested Thursday morning on federal weapons charges in connection with a 2004 bombing in Arizona that injured a black city official.
Robert Neil Joos, 56, was charged with being a felon in possession of firearms. Joos remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing set for Monday.
According to an affidavit, the arrest came as a result of a federal investigation into a Feb. 26, 2004, bombing incident that injured the director of diversity and dialogue for Scottsdale, Ariz. According to Matt J. Whitworth, acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri, the undercover investigation focused on several people involved in white supremacist movements across the country. During the investigation, according to the affidavit, undercover agents were told about a retreat location in Missouri that members of the movement utilized. Whitworth said Joos was identified as owner of the property. Joos, the founder of the Sacerdotal Order of David, a church identified with the white supremacist movement, owns 200 acres east of Cyclone in rural McDonald County.
“A confidential informant and two undercover ATF agents visited Joos at his McDonald County property on three occasions in January 2008 and in January and February 2009,” Whitworth said in a prepared statement. “During those visits, the affidavit says, they observed several firearms and ammunition.”
Two twin brothers from Illinois, Dennis and Daniel Mahon, were also arrested Thursday at their home in Davis Junction, Ill., in connection with the 2004 bombing. According to the Associated Press, an affidavit filed to support the arrest show the first call Dennis Mahon made the morning of the bombing was to a cell phone registered to Joos.
According to the Associated Press, 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.
Under federal law, a convicted felon cannot be in possession of firearms. In 1997, Joos was convicted of carrying a concealed weapon and resisting arrest in connection with a June 1994 incident.
In 1985, Joos was charged with simulating legal process when he attempted to serve a bogus federal injunction on retired trooper Merle Graham to prevent the arrest of Taren Wood, a Joos associate. The following year, a McDonald County jury found Joos guilty of the misdemeanor and he was sentenced to six months in the county jail, plus a $400 fine.
A McDonald County self-proclaimed pastor was arrested Thursday morning on federal weapons charges in connection with a 2004 bombing in Arizona that injured a black city official.
Robert Neil Joos, 56, was charged with being a felon in possession of firearms. Joos remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing set for Monday.
According to an affidavit, the arrest came as a result of a federal investigation into a Feb. 26, 2004, bombing incident that injured the director of diversity and dialogue for Scottsdale, Ariz. According to Matt J. Whitworth, acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri, the undercover investigation focused on several people involved in white supremacist movements across the country. During the investigation, according to the affidavit, undercover agents were told about a retreat location in Missouri that members of the movement utilized. Whitworth said Joos was identified as owner of the property. Joos, the founder of the Sacerdotal Order of David, a church identified with the white supremacist movement, owns 200 acres east of Cyclone in rural McDonald County.
“A confidential informant and two undercover ATF agents visited Joos at his McDonald County property on three occasions in January 2008 and in January and February 2009,” Whitworth said in a prepared statement. “During those visits, the affidavit says, they observed several firearms and ammunition.”
Two twin brothers from Illinois, Dennis and Daniel Mahon, were also arrested Thursday at their home in Davis Junction, Ill., in connection with the 2004 bombing. According to the Associated Press, an affidavit filed to support the arrest show the first call Dennis Mahon made the morning of the bombing was to a cell phone registered to Joos.
According to the Associated Press, 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.
Under federal law, a convicted felon cannot be in possession of firearms. In 1997, Joos was convicted of carrying a concealed weapon and resisting arrest in connection with a June 1994 incident.
In 1985, Joos was charged with simulating legal process when he attempted to serve a bogus federal injunction on retired trooper Merle Graham to prevent the arrest of Taren Wood, a Joos associate. The following year, a McDonald County jury found Joos guilty of the misdemeanor and he was sentenced to six months in the county jail, plus a $400 fine.
Joos appealed the verdict, but it was upheld by the appellate court, which issued a warrant for Joos’ arrest in 1987. Joos remained at large until June 29, 1994, when two troopers with the Missouri State Highway Patrol — Sgt. Steve Dorsey and the late Cpl. Bobbie Harper — arrested Joos after a scuffle. A search of Joos’ van revealed a loaded .32 caliber, five-shot revolver, which was in an opaque plastic bag between the van’s seats.
In September 1994, Harper was shot sniper style through a window of his home while he was preparing a dish of ice cream. Harper, who was recovering from a liver transplant, did not die in the attack, but never returned to work. Harper died in 1996 after a heart operation. A Joos’ associate, Timothy Coombs, was suspected in the shooting. Coombs remains at large.
In 2004, Joos was convicted of operating a motor vehicle without a license. During a 2002 hearing, he told the court he had no intention of obtaining a Missouri driver’s license, saying he is a “servant of God and can have no covenant with the heathen government.” Joos was hospitalized in November 2004 as a result of a hunger strike.
