If he didn't crash his car, Joseph Rubino from Lafayette Township, New Jersey, might never have been caught for possessing an arsenal of weapons and drugs meant for trafficking.
He also would have continued slipping under the radar with all his paraphernalia touting white supremacist propaganda.
When police arrived on scene on July 24 after his traffic accident, they discovered firearms and ammunition as they extracted the 57-year-old out of his vehicle, according to Buzzfeed News.
The discovery led to a search warrant for Rubino's home, where police found a bigger cache of weapons and illegal drugs.
According to a criminal complaint filed by the New Jersey Federal Court, police found shotguns, rifles with scopes, handguns, silencers, high-capacity magazines, a grenade launcher and six semi-automatic weapons.
New Jersey man arrested with grenade launcher, assault weapons, brass knuckles, meth, hollow point bullets, a baseb… https://t.co/SBv7d6sAv9— Ali Watkins (@Ali Watkins) 1566344559.0
@AliWatkins @Danielle1239 Great that scary guy in custody! It is important to stop mass murders before they happen.… https://t.co/fYliBLUDZj— Marjorie Morningstar (@Marjorie Morningstar) 1566364647.0
New Jersey U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said the police also discovered Rubino had 3 kilograms of marijuana, 200 cannabis vape cartridges and 70 grams of methamphetamine.
In addition, he had a box filled with clothing; bumper stickers with the "SS Bolts" neo-Nazi symbol commonly sported by outlaw motorcycle gang members; and a racist handbook called the N****r Owner's Manual, which the complaint described as "an instruction manual for owning a slave."
@HuffPost There are 'instruction manuals for owning a slave?' FFS...How thick are these people?? - and I'm not even… https://t.co/NZPDPEAUkH— Cecelia KEMP (@Cecelia KEMP) 1566401956.0
Federal authorities also noted Rubino was convicted for writing
bad checks in 1999.
People were aghast over Rubino's horrifying stash.
@AliWatkins @YuriThomas99 People can purchase grenade launchers? Wtf— Natalie (@Natalie) 1566346222.0
@Natgcoh @AliWatkins @YuriThomas99 Of course. The founding fathers definitely wanted that kind of weaponry in the h… https://t.co/lcTT9gNNYJ— JC Healy (@JC Healy) 1566348562.0
Sarcastic comments about video games allegedly emboldening violence were made.
@AliWatkins @nytimes Hmm, no mention of video games. So that can't be true.— Rich Sparks (@Rich Sparks) 1566347767.0
@AliWatkins He probably played too many video games as a child.— ToppsyT (@ToppsyT) 1566362989.0
@AliWatkins @nytimes How many video games were found?— Jeremy Məller (@Jeremy Məller) 1566355173.0
@AliWatkins @nytimes Sure that sounds bad but what kind of video games did he have?— McMeatballs79 (@McMeatballs79) 1566348775.0
Marijuana could do without all the bad rep.
@AliWatkins One wouldn’t have expected the weed...— Flarvik Knürdmann (@Flarvik Knürdmann) 1566345354.0
@AliWatkins Don’t drag weed into this.— Ben Redder (@Ben Redder) 1566364925.0
@AliWatkins @nytimes Did you really need to throw the “weed” in here so we know he was a REALLY bad guy.— Wasim (@Wasim) 1566350025.0
@AliWatkins @nytimes He had WEED?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?! Lock him up! Lock him up!— Buck Cockrell (@Buck Cockrell) 1566347673.0
Rubino was charged with possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, according to the criminal complaint.
While many were relieved for the prevention of another potential mass murder, authorities confirmed there was no evidence that Rubino would commit mass violence or an act of domestic terrorism.
@AliWatkins I get the heightened alert around mass shootings. But this sounds like white supremacist gang activity… https://t.co/JAbwhM4mDn— Jack Katz (@Jack Katz) 1566357131.0
@AliWatkins @nytimes Must be getting ready for a Trump Rally— Francis Hooper (@Francis Hooper) 1566351290.0
@AliWatkins We might be too late. The American experiment may already be dead.— Crusader for Justice 🇺🇸🇪🇺 (@Crusader for Justice 🇺🇸🇪🇺) 1566367894.0
Rubino's arrest came a week before El Paso's racially-motivated shooting in which 22 people were killed at a Walmart by a White nationalist domestic terrorist who was targeting Latinos.
There is no information regarding an attorney for Rubino at this time.
The book Professor Birdsong's 157 Dumbest Criminal Stories is available here.
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