Man who sent manifesto to Trump busted for gun theft in Wisconsin

JANESVILLE, Wis. — A fugitive accused of stealing numerous weapons from a Janesville, Wisconsin, gun store and sending an anti-government manifesto to President Donald Trump at the White House was arrested Friday after nine days on the run.

Joseph Allen Jakubowski was found in Readstown, about 125 miles northwest of Janesville, Jakubowski’s hometown, where the manhunt for him began April 4.

The Rock County, Wisconsin, Sheriff’s Office said the break in the case came when a property owner in Readstown called the Vernon County Sheriff’s Office Thursday evening to report a suspicious man camping on his land, sayings the man matched Jakubowski’s description and was refusing to leave.

According to the sheriff’s office, tactical officers surrounded Jakubowski and arrested him without incident around 6 a.m. Friday.

More than 150 law enforcement officials had been searching for Jakubowski, 32, since April 4, when authorities say he broke in to a gun store in Janesville, about 70 miles southwest of Milwaukee.

The Rock County Sheriff’s Office says Jakubowski wrote a 161-page manifesto in which he detailed a long list of grievances against the government and spoke of plans to launch attacks with the 18 firearms authorities say he stole.

Janesville Police Chief David Moore said Jakubowski cited concerns about Trump in his manifesto but that he didn’t make any specific threats.

The sheriff’s office said Jakubowski filmed a video of himself dropping his manifesto, addressed to Trump, into a mailbox and speaking of a “revolution” before the manhunt began. He warned in the video that whoever received the manifesto “might want to read it.”

On Thursday, WTMJ-TV posted 35 pages of handwritten documents to its website that it said were an unidentified law enforcement official verified as Jakubowski’s writings. Rock County Sheriff’s Office Commander Troy Knudson said the writings appeared genuine.

“We the people should be out for these sick minded people belonging to the system! We need to spill their blood!” the document reads, going on to say priests and churches control U.S. presidents and banks.

Jakubowski has had several run-ins with law enforcement, most for traffic violations. But police say he previously resisted arrest and once tried to disarm an officer.