[2] Stephen Howard Anderson, an adherent of the Christian Identity movement was previously a "major" in the Kentucky State Militia; he was expelled from the group in April 2001 after making a series of racist and antisemitic comments, with the group's "assistant commander" calling Anderson "a little too extreme for us.
At the traffic stop, Anderson claimed that he was "on patrol" with the Kentucky State Militia and was heavily armed; he fled police and fired several rifle shots before abandoning his pickup truck in Middlesboro, Kentucky, loaded with a cache of ammunition and pipe bombs.
[3][5][6][7] On November 22, 2002, Anderson was arrested by police in a rural part of Cherokee County, North Carolina.
[10][9] Anderson issued an apology for his actions, pleaded guilty, and was convicted of weapons charges stemming from the confrontation with police; in May 2003, he was sentenced to fifteen years in prison.
He subsequently entered into a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, in which he admitted to two weapons charges and to intimidating a witness.