| Kentucky State Militia | |
| Leader: | Stephen Anderson |
| Dates: | –2001 |
| Area: | Kentucky, United States |
The Kentucky State Militia was a militia movement organization based in the state of Kentucky, United States. The paramilitary group[1] became known for a manhunt, which ended with the seizure of various firearms and ammunition, used by the group.[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."[3] Anderson had been known for his extremist broadcasts on a militia-themed short-wave radio show called The Militia Hour, an illegal pirate radio program.[3] [4]
In October 2001, Anderson fired gunshots at a Bell County, Kentucky deputy sheriff at a traffic stop; Anderson had been pulled over for lacking functioning taillights. 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. Indicted on explosive charges in federal court in Kentucky, he fled into the mountains, where he became a fugitive wanted by the FBI, ATF, and Kentucky State Police.[3] [5] [6] [7]
On November 22, 2002, Anderson was arrested by police in a rural part of Cherokee County, North Carolina.[4] [8] [9] The arrest came following a tip from a person who had seen a June 2002 segment on America's Most Wanted profiling Anderson.[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.[4]
Charles N. Puckett was commander of the group until resigning in September 2001. He was arrested in February 2002 for illegally possessing guns and other weapons (which Puckett, as a previously convicted felon, could not legally possess). Puckett fled from house arrest before turning himself in about three weeks later. He subsequently entered into a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, in which he admitted to two weapons charges and to intimidating a witness.[11] He was sentenced to 30 months and a day in prison, followed by supervised probation.[1]