Joseph Jakubowski captured photo by the Rock County Sheriff’s Department.
A Janesville, Wisconsin man accused of sending Donald Trump a 161-page anti-government and anti-religious manifesto has been captured in western Wisconsin after 10 days on the run, according to the Rock County Sheriff’s Department.
Authorities had launched a massive manhunt for Jakubowski, 32, because they said he was armed with at least 16 weapons, police say, including assault rifles. He was accused of stealing the weaponry from a gun store, and he disappeared after the burglary and after cryptically promising “revolution” on video.
WTMJ-4 in Milwaukee has posted the full manifesto. You can read it here.
“In communications prior to his disappearance, Jakubowski also allegedly made reference to his dying by the hand of Trump and expressed a desire to save everyone by taking out one politician at a time,” ABC News reports.
However, he was captured without incident, ending community fears and a massive manhunt, sheriff’s officials said.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Authorities Received a Report of a ‘Suspicious Person’ on a Farmer’s Property From a Retired School Counselor Who Spent a ‘Cordial’ Hour With Jakubowski
Another surveillance photo of Jakubowski released by the Rock County Sheriff’s Department.
The end to Jakubowski’s time on the run came on April 13, 2017 at approximately 9:30 p.m.
The Vernon County Sheriff’s Office, which is located in Western Wisconsin, “received a report of a suspicious person on a farmer’s property on Estes Road near Readstown, WI,” the Rock County Sheriff’s Department says. Sheriff Robert Spoden, Rock County Sheriff, said in an afternoon news conference, that, at 7:11 p.m. on April 14, “our suspect was encountered in a remote area of western Wisconsin by a citizen of Vernon County.” The citizen became suspicious and contacted the Vernon County Sheriff’s Department.
“Investigators assigned to the Jakubowski case were sent to that location along with tactical support to assist local authorities in determining whether the suspicious individual was related to the manhunt,” says the Sheriff’s Department.
Janesville Police Chief David Moore said, “It ended because a citizen gave a tip.” Twenty six agencies were involved in the investigation overall, the FBI said at a press conference.
WISN-TV spoke with Jeffrey Gorn, a retired school counselor who spotted Jakubowski’s “blue tarp.”
“Gorn said he was driving his four-wheeler on his 150-acre property late Thursday when he spotted the campsite on a hill and approached the man, not realizing he was the subject of a nationwide manhunt,” said WISN, but the television station added that Gorn “spent a cordial hour with Jakubowski.”
Jakubowski had not gone far. Readstown is just over 2 hours from Janesville, where Jakubowski is from. According to WKOW-TV, Vernon County authorities “have a command post set up at Kickapoo Area High School.”
He’s facing a slew of criminal charges when he gets back.
Jakubowski was criminally charged on April 11 with stealing at least 18 weapons.
Sheriff’s officials were so concerned they even released a photo they said shows what Jakubowski might look like without hair because they thought he might be camouflaging his appearance. There was a $20,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.
A former FBI official had described Jakubowski to NBC News as a “ticking time bomb.” The sheriff said authorities are worried that Jakubowski has some kind of “end game.”
2. Jakubowski Was Found Camping on the Farmer’s Property
Joseph Jakubowski. (Rock County Sheriff’s Department)
Jakubowski was camping when discovered. He was staying in a “primitive campsite in a rural private property” just south of Viola, Wisconsin, said Sheriff Spoden. Local law enforcement set up a perimeter at the location.
On April 14, officers made contact and Jakubowski “was taken into custody without incident. We are grateful for a safe resolution to this public safety threat,” said the sheriff.
Jakubowski was transported to the Rock County Jail. It’s anticipated he will face charges in the gun store burglary, said Spoden. He said he had never seen such collaboration among so many law enforcement agencies.
Janesville Police Chief David Moore said authorities were afraid the situation could erupt into a “mass shooting” and said authorities were fortunate to learn of the burglary and “his very involved plan.”
The suspicious person complaint “reported that a male matching the description of Jakubowski was camping at that location and refused to leave when he had been asked to do so. Local authorities established a perimeter and tactical support was sent in to investigate,” said the Rock County Sheriff’s Department.
Shortly before 6 a.m., tactical officers moved in and “made contact with the suspicious person at the campsite. This subject was taken into custody without incident and positively identified as Joseph A. Jakubowski, our wanted fugitive,” said the Sheriff’s Department.
Authorities took their time because of concerns that Jakubowski was heavily armed.
He is accused of burglarizing a gun store called Armageddon on April 4, 2017 right before he disappeared.
“A large quantity of high-end handguns and rifles were stolen and the suspect fled the scene,” the Sheriff’s Department in Rock County, Wisconsin said in a previous statement. The criminal complaint alleges that Jakubowski moved out of the home he shared with his sister the day of the gun store burglary, and she found a letter of apology he wrote to its owner, which said “that he wanted to purchase the guns in order to protect himself and his family, but could not do so because he was a felon, according to the complaint. The suspect then apologized for the thefts and thanked the gun shop owner for protecting Second Amendment rights.”
Before identifying the burglar as allegedly being Jakubowski, the Sheriff’s Department released photos from the heist.
The Rock County, Wisconsin Sheriff wrote on Facebook that Jakubowski should be considered, “armed and dangerous.” According to The Janesville Gazette, authorities say they also “have learned Jakubowski bought a bullet-resistant vest and helmet.”
3. Jakubowski Was Located Under a Tarp With Weapons & the Manifesto Had Raised Concerns Because of Its Rambling Anti-Government Tone
A frame from the Joseph Jakubowski video. (Rock County Sheriff’s Department)
According to the FBI, Jakubowski was found “under a tarp,” with four handguns, one long gun, one samurai-like sword, multiple boxes of ammunition, containers of flammable liquid and a copy of his manifesto.
Jakubowski appeared in federal court the afternoon of his capture ” while wearing a dirty white T-shirt over a long-sleeve shirt and blue jeans,” said WISN, which added that the sheriff said he was disheveled when captured.
The 161-page manifesto written by Jakubowski to Donald Trump was published in part by WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee and contains the ominous passage: “If I must walk to my death… I choose my death to be carried out by the hands of the president! The leader of the people! Not in secret either – on live TV.”
The lengthy document starts with a spelling ridden declaration: “selfish and greedy beleive (sic)!”
“We the people should be out for these sick minded people belonging to the system! We need to spill their blood!” he writes in another passage in the massive manifesto. “These selfish & greedy are slowly killing us!”
The manifesto is a rambling screen against government and taxing authority rather than being directed at one person.
Jakubowski’s own stepfather, Don McLean, told WTMJ-TV that Jakubowski cast blame on police and the government and had been that way for years. McLean told the Milwaukee television station that he “would not want to wear a badge until this thing is over” and the family, which hadn’t talked to Jakubowski for two years, hopes he surrenders.
4. The Wisconsin Governor Tweeted Thanks to Law Enforcement for Jakubowski’s Capture & Said Now People Don’t Have to Worry About Easter Threats
(Rock County Sheriff’s Department)
The massive manhunt led to an arrest without incident. That led Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker to express thanks to law enforcement on Twitter. Due to the anti-religious nature of the manifesto, there had been concern about Easter religious services.
Thank you to law enforcement at the municipal, county, state and federal level for their outstanding work!
On April 6, two days after the gun store burglary, police received information that Jakubowski “has been highly agitated recently regarding a variety of political issues,” the Rock County Sheriff’s Department said. “It was further reported that he had made threats to steal weapons and to use them against public officials or at an unspecified school.”
The Sheriff’s Department says that Jakubowski wrote a 161-page manifesto and mailed it to President Trump on April 4, 2017. It “includes grievances against government and personal angst towards anyone or anything other than natural law or rule,” said the Sheriff’s Department in the statements.
Authorities released a video they say is of Jakubowski at the post office mailing the manifesto. According to The Janesville Gazette, the Sheriff said: “When you look at the (manifesto), it is a laundry list of injustices he believes government and society and the upper class have put … onto the rest of the citizens. He believes that the government, and law enforcement in particular, are acting as terrorists and are enslaving the people and creating this environment that he finds unacceptable.”
The first few minutes of the 15-minute video are black but you can hear talking. Then, you see a man police say is Jakubowski in the post office. He holds up an envelope with Trump’s name on it for the camera. Another man can be heard interacting with Jakubowski during the video. It’s not clear who he is. Some of the video simply shows the buying of postage.
“Revolution,” the man police say is Jakubowski says toward the end of the video as he walks through the parking lot. “It’s time for change.”
The other person recording the video says, “It’s D Day. Today is the day. So remember this face.”
The man identified as Jakubowski by police then says, “Game time. F- the system.”
5. Jakubowski Posted Pictures on Social Media of Winged Warriors
Joseph Jakubowski Facebook post.
Jakubowski didn’t have much of a Facebook presence; he only had 21 friends, and he followed a site focused on the hacktivist collective Anonymous. Although police said his manifesto contained anti-religion ramblings, he recently posted the above photo on Facebook.
“Let the darkness tremble, for I am a warrior,” read one post that Jakubowski shared.
Some of his Facebook friends were local, but others seem to share extreme anti government views and live in other states. One of his Facebook friends implored him to “get that puppet.”
Little else is on Jakubowski’s public page. He did post a comment on a friend’s post about a police chief trying to reimagine a criminal justice system that “strives to put itself out of business,” writing, “Drop the badge and get out if (sic) the system…if he made that choice I would fight at his side.”
One of Jakubowski’s Facebook friends wrote that he had been visited by authorities and insisted to them, “he is one of the good guys trying to save kids from you guys… the government… and that as far as I am concerned pigs protect pedophiles.”
Compounding the concern – and adding a layer of mystery – is the fact that Jakubowski’s car was found burned and abandoned after the gun store robbery, and authorities say they don’t know why.
Many agencies were involved.
“Staffing levels for investigators continue to be in the range of one hundred and fifty local, state and federal law enforcement officers and support personnel,” the Sheriff’s Department wrote in a statement.
“Additionally, federal authorities are using their resources to investigate any leads that may be developed outside of this local area. Currently, investigators have followed up on approximately three hundred and twenty tips and leads and still have approximately fifty that need to be resolved.”