[Vision2020] A Little Too Close to Home

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of today's (April 21, 2011) Spokesman-Review.

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Arrested felon posted to racist website
‘WhitePhoenix’ boasted about taco-truck picket

A Whitman County man who bragged online about being involved with racist
taco-truck protests in Kootenai County was arrested on a federal gun
charge Wednesday.

Jeremiah Daniel “J.D.” Hop, who describes himself as an anti-race-mixing
activist on the racist website Vanguard News Network, is accused of being
a felon in possession of a firearm.

Investigators spent most of Wednesday searching Hop’s home near Pullman,
as well as another property in Whitman County associated with the suspect,
said Don Robinson, supervisor for the FBI’s Coeur d’Alene office.

Hop, who was arrested Wednesday morning, is not a member of the Aryan
Nations but is involved in racist circles, Robinson said. He was convicted
of third-degree rape of a child in 2005.

Hop, 29, is to appear before a federal magistrate in Spokane today.

Under the name WhitePhoenix, a man who identified himself as Hop wrote on
the racist website Stormfront about his work protesting taco stands in the
Coeur d’Alene area.

The commenter said he lived in Pullman and that his name was J.D. Hop.

In a post on Feb. 7, WhitePhoenix said he wasn’t worried about the law.

“We see them plenty and the general public hates that they can’t do a
legal thing 
 to us,” according to the post.

Two days later, he titled his post “North Idaho five weeks and going 
”
and said he was working to bring “the mexican taco cart foothold to the
attention of the locals here in couer d’alene/Hayden.”

In his last post on April 13, WhitePhoenix said he was helping members of
the racist group the Original Knights of America. He described himself as
a general contractor involved in construction, maintenance and repair.

Robinson said no other arrests are expected. He declined to say what led
investigators to Hop.

The case is not connected to the discovery of a bomb on the Martin Luther
King Jr. Unity March route in January, said Frank Harrill, supervisor for
the FBI’s Spokane office.

Robinson said that while Wednesday was significant in the racist movement
because it’s Adolf Hitler’s birthday, the timing of Hop’s arrest is
coincidental.

A grand jury indicted Hop on Tuesday, but the document remained sealed
until his arrest.

He’s accused of possessing a Saiga 12-gauge semi-automatic shotgun on
March 25. The charge carries up to 10 years in prison.

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Seeya at the CommUNITY Walk on Saturday, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to
changeand the Realist adjusts his sails."

 - Unknown