Feud tied to DNA test of supremacist's black blood

Doug Stanglin | USA TODAY

The recent arrest of neo-Nazi Craig Cobb, who wants to turn a small North Dakota town all-white, was apparently sparked by a feud with a fellow supremacist who turned on him when DNA tests showed Cobb to be part black, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Cobb, 62, was arrested Saturday along with a fellow neo-Nazi for allegedly threatening citizens while going on "patrol" with weapons in Leith, N.D. (population:16).

Cobb and Kynan Dutton, 29, are each charged with seven counts of terrorizing residents, five of the counts involving guns. The pair could face 10 to 35 years in prison if convicted on all counts.

The latest twist in the story comes as Tom Metzger, founder of the White Aryan Resistance, tells the Associated Press he disagrees with Cobb's high-profile antics and is returning property in Leith that Cobb had deeded to him.

Cobb, a hate crimes fugitive from Canada with a long history of association with hate groups and white separatist believers, quietly began buying up local property months ago in a bid to take control of the town council and make Leith an all-white community.

Grant County records show that Cobb, who has purchased 13 lots, has since transferred ownership of two lots: one to Metzger, who is also a former grand dragon of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in California, and another to Alex Linder, originator of the Vanguard News Network, a white supremacist website, according to the civil rights group Southern Poverty Law Center.

Leith, with a population of 16, is located 51 miles southwest of Bismarck.

"The way he does business is not the way I do business," said Metzger, who tells the AP that he still considers Cobb a friend. "I think people should move into communities as regular people and become part of the community, and not necessarily declare their racist views."

"His view was to come into town like a brass band. I disagreed with that," he said.

In a text message to the Tribune before he was taken into custody on Saturday afternoon, Cobb said, "Because of the many violences (sic) and harassments against we (sic) and the children, we have commenced armed patrols of Leith." In a follow up text, Cobb said he has new plans to name some of his property the "Adolph Hitler Pvt. Park of Leith."

The violence, however, apparently was traced back to another white supremacist who had a falling out with Cobb, the Times reports.

Grant County Assistant State's Atty. Todd Schwarz tells the newspaper that a fellow supremacist apparently targeted Cobb with racial graffiti after he'd found out that Cobb's DNA results showed he was part black.

"The individual in question was interviewed, and when his interview answers weren't matching up, he essentially admitted it," Schwarz, who declined to name the persons, told the Times. "The one that tipped it off -- he painted on the house, 'BACK IN BLACK,' and he's not an AC/DC fan."

Cobb gained national attention recently when he appeared on the Trisha Goddard Show's "Race in America" series and agreed to undergo DNA testing. The results showed he is 14% sub-Saharan African and 86% European. Cobb rejected the results as "short science" and "statistical noise".

Schwarz said the pair "had a falling out" on the day the DNA results became public. Schwarz said the unidentified man was "not real mentally stable" and left town the same day.

One of the two targets in Saturday's incident was Leith City Councilman Lee Cook, who alleged that the pair came to the end of his property with a gun and that Dutton had his finger on the rifle trigger, the Bismarck Tribune reports.

Both Cook and Bruce, who has been posting updates about the neo-Nazi activities in the town on Leithnd.com website, called 911, the Tribune reports.

Contributing: Associated Press