Minuteman Leader Chris Simcox Deemed A Threat To His Family; 15 Seconds Of Fame Have Expired

[Cross-posted at Crooks and Liars.]

We've been following the bizarre career of Minuteman co-founder Chris Simcox for quite awhile now, and it finally looks like his 15 seconds of fame have reached their expiration:

An Arizona court has ruled that an order of protection against Minuteman co-founder Chris Simcox sought by his estranged wife as part of a messy divorce case be continued "in full force," saying evidence shows that he committed an act of violence.

The petition, sought by Alena Simcox, alleges that Mr. Simcox threatened her and their children with a loaded handgun, saying he would kill them and any police officers who came to their aid. The order initially was signed April 16 and continued after a hearing Thursday in Superior Court in Phoenix.

... The order demands that Mr. Simcox, 49, not contact his wife or children, that he stay away from their home and that he surrender his firearms to the Scottsdale Police Department.

... In court documents, Mrs. Simcox, 30, said her husband of four years threatened her in November with a gun he "repeatedly pointed at me, saying he was going to kill me and my kids and the police." She said the ordeal lasted six hours, during which she locked herself and her children in a bedroom until Mr. Simcox passed out.

Afraid for her safety, the documents say, she did not call police. She said Mr. Simcox "was waiting by the door for the police to come, with a gun pointed at me." In a separate filing, she said Mr. Simcox got drunk on their wedding anniversary in August, loaded a revolver and, with his children present, asked her to shoot him.

The documents say that when Mrs. Simcox said no, Mr. Simcox said "he would shoot the entire family and cops." She petitioned for divorce on April 19.

Mind you, this is simply a third manifestation of a fact that the SPLC reported about Simcox five years ago: that he's a paranoid and angry man highly prone to domestic violence. (You can read the court documents yourself.)

It doesn't help, of course, that Simcox is also a scam artist, and the Minutemen were ultimately his grandest scam.

I'm not a psychiatrist, but the man exhibits all the classic symptoms of a sociopath, including the self-pity and the ease at constructing rationales to excuse himself. From the Moonie Times piece:

On a recent posting on his Web page, Mr. Simcox said in a rambling report that while he was "compelled … by a divine power" to create the Minuteman movement and that he spent nine years of his life trying to fulfill the mission, his effort had led to his "falling short in all my relationships, most notably my duty to my wife and family."

"At this stage of my life and after applying my obligation to love my country I now must love with my whole person; I must commit to love my God first, my family second and my duty to country, as important as it is, now comes behind my primary duties to get my whole person behind my nexus of love, my feelings, my thoughts, my actions — my God and my family come first," he said.

Somehow, I expect, Simcox will turn up on the Glenn Beck show eventually.