Ex-Vancouver supremacist faces charges of terrorizing U.S. town
A former Vancouver man and neoNazi white supremacist has been charged with terrorizing the people of a small town he wants to take over and turn into a white enclave.
Craig Paul Cobb, 62, was arrested in Leith, N.D., while carrying out what he called an “armed patrol.”
Cobb has bought 13 properties in Leith during the past two years, outlining plans to develop a white supremacist community. In an interview three months ago with The Province, he encouraged like-minded individuals to move to the area, citing plans to take over the local government.
“I’ve always had the Little Europe concept in mind,” Cobb said in August.
Residents finally sought help over the weekend because they claimed Cobb and Kynan Dutton, 29, a follower, were confronting them with guns.
“Hell — that’s what we’ve been through,” Lee Cook, a Leith councillor who moved his family out of the town several weeks ago, told the Bismarck Tribune. “Everybody’s been terrorized.”
Cobb and Dutton are each charged with seven counts of terrorizing the people of Leith. Five of those charges involve guns. They face minimum sentences of two years in jail for each charge.
The two men appeared in court and were held without bail.
Todd Schwarz, Grant County state’s attorney, said residents would continue to be uneasy as long as Cobb and Dutton reside in Leith.
“Residents have told me they would feel a great deal of fear if he and Dutton are in Leith,” Schwarz said.
Leith has a population of 19, including one black resident, Bobby Harper, who has refused to leave.
Cobb was arrested in Vancouver in June 2010 for allegedly promoting hatred online. He was released from custody and fled Canada. Cobb is still wanted in Canada on a nationwide arrest warrant.