Published: April 09, 2008 11:52 am      

JPD nabs fed fugitive claiming affiliation with Republic of Texas

By Kelly Young

kyoung@jacksonvilleprogress.com

A suspicious-person call Monday morning to the Jacksonville Police Department resulted in the arrest of a federal fugitive wanted by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms.

Stephen L. Jackson, 49, of Wentworth, Mo., was taken into custody after fleeing from local police and refusing to identify himself. He was wanted by ATF on weapons charges.

“Officer (Austin) Faulkner was dispatched to a suspicious-person call in the 300 block of Main Street at approximately 11:30 p.m. Monday night,” Detective Jason Price said. “Upon arrival, Officer Faulkner observed two individuals standing between two buildings.”

As the officer approached the two men, one of them fled northbound on Main Street. Faulkner attempted to identify the remaining suspect.

“The subject refused to give any information to Officer Faulkner,” Price said. “The subject was advised of the laws pertaining to identifying one’s self, and the subject continued to refuse to give the officer his name and date of birth.”

The suspect was handcuffed and taken to the police department for processing, without incident. The man who had fled the scene was later located by Officer Darrell Hollis at 211 S. Ragsdale St. This man also refused to identify himself, even after being made aware of the law.

Like his counterpart, this suspect was also taken to the department without incident. While in custody, JPD was able to identify the two men as Jackson, and David George Bough, 64, from St. Louis, Mo.

“Both men claimed that due to their affiliation with the House of Israel, they were not subject to the laws of the United States and therefore failed to comply with the officer’s legal instructions,” Price said.

Jackson was found to have an outstanding ATF warrant and a warrant from the Newton County Sheriff’s Office in Missouri for unlawful possession of a prohibited weapon. He was held in the city jail overnight, and was transferred into the custody of ATF agents Tuesday afternoon.

“Jackson and Bough were both charged with failure to identify to a peace officer, which is a class-C misdemeanor. Bough was charged and released,” Price said.

Police Chief Reece Daniel said the House of Israel is an offshoot of the Republic of Texas that follows an anti-government, anti-authority dogma which they believe comes from Biblical scripture.

“They basically do not believe they are subject to man’s laws, so they don’t recognize our Constitution or our laws. In a lot of instances, the thing that causes problems is that they don’t acknowledge our gun laws, especially,” Daniel said. “They (House of Israel) maintain a gathering place on Main Street, just across from the fire station, and I believe they were in town visiting that location.”

Daniel said JPD investigators were able to hand over information that will be helpful to ATF as they pursue a case against Jackson.

“He was wanted for firearms violations and things of that nature, and he is also a known associate of someone who is connected in the killing of a Missouri state police officer. ATF was very grateful to have him back,” he said. “I don’t mind bragging at all — the people on the night shift did a wonderful job last night; putting together some good evidence and recovering a cell phone with some good numbers in it.”