North Dakota white supremacist faces terrorizing charges after bothering neighbors with guns

A neo-Nazi who’s hoping to set up a whites-only community in North Dakota has been arrested following confrontations with other residents.

Craig Cobb and another white supremacist, Kynan Dutton, were taken into custody Saturday afternoon after residents of the town where they’ve moved called 911 to report that the pair had been trying to threaten and intimidate them with guns.

Leith City Councilman Lee Cook said the pair approached them holding a rifle and shotgun and stood at the edge of his property.

Dutton had his finger on the rifle trigger, Cook said, but neither gun was aimed directly at anyone.

The other man, Greg Bruce, said the white supremacists walked around town twice and began following a woman and frightening her.

The 62-year-old Cobb and the 29-year-old Dutton are part of a group of white separatists who moved to Leith in hopes over taking over the town’s government, and since then have set up signs covered with racial slurs and flying swastika flags over Cobb’s property.

The pair will be charged with three counts of terrorizing, the sheriff said.

Cobb sent a text message to a Bismark Tribune reporter before his arrest, explaining why he and Dutton walked around town displaying weapons.

"Because of the many violences (sic) and harassments against we (sic) and the children, we have commenced armed patrols of Leith," adding that he intended to name some of his property "Adolph Hitler Pvt. Park of Leith."

Dutton was previously released on bond on a disorderly conduct charge for drunken behavior.

Investigators said Deborah Dutton had accompanied the men carrying a cell phone to record their interactions with residents but she was not charged.

The sheriff said he knew the situation would escalate “sooner or later” in the town but said he’s relieved no shots were fired.

Cook said he moved his family out of Leith several weeks ago due to safety concerns, and he’d returned with Bruce to install security cameras on his property in town.

He said Leith remains unsafe, even with the two men jailed.

“(Cobb) thinks he owns this town," Cook said.

Cobb, a hate crimes fugitive from Canada, learned in a talk show appearance scheduled to air Monday that his genetic ancestry included sub-Saharan African DNA.

He purchased 13 properties in Leith in hopes of taking over the town, but his plan has been complicated by a zoning board building moratorium that prevents Cobb and his supporters from living on property without sewer or water lines.

Watch this video report posted online by KUMV-TV:

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