Anti immigrant vigilante leader and lifelong con artist, including posing as "full blood Cherokee" and son of a famed country singer.
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https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2019/02/15/heres-new-mexico-militia-leader-johnny-horton-jrs-bizarre-arrest-recordSelf-proclaimed New Mexico militia leader Johnny Horton Jr. sure can spin a heck of a tale. Like how he’s in direct contact with President Donald Trump and advising the commander-in-chief on border security. Or how he’s planning to lead hundreds of armed civilians to the Mexico border to ward off caravans of migrants seeking asylum in the U.S.
Horton offers almost no evidence for his claims. But that hasn’t stopped him from capitalizing on wild-eyed fears of people online in an effort to, as he describes it, raise money for the group he runs – the United Constitutional Patriots, which is headquartered in Flora Vista, New Mexico.
Horton’s fundraising attempts were documented in November in a Hatewatch article about how caravan paranoia was sowing division among militia diehards. The article revealed that
Horton’s real name is Larry Hopkins, a fact he fails to make clear in his group’s fundraising pitches on PayPal and GoFundMe. Since then, Hopkins, 69, has increased the amount of money he’s asking for to more than $12,000, having already surpassed his previous goal of $2,500.
Now, Hatewatch has obtained records that show there’s more to Hopkins’ history than just his fictitious name and elaborate claims.
In 2006, he was arrested in Klamath County, Oregon, on
suspicion of impersonating a police officer and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Hopkins ended up pleading no contest to the impersonation charge and guilty to a gun possession charge. Both were felonies. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail and three years of probation.
The details outlined in his arrest report contain some striking similarities to the kinds of grandiose stories he’s been telling in recent months.
On Nov. 5, 2006, Klamath County Sheriff’s Deputy Jack Daniel received a call from a reserve deputy, who was at a gas station just a short drive from the California state line. The reserve deputy said there was a man in the parking lot “bragging about going on drug stings in Louisiana and stating that he worked for the government,” according to the report.
In the report, the deputy described how Hopkins, who did not return calls seeking comment for this article, was dressed when he arrived.
“I observed that Larry Hopkins was wearing a black uniform style shirt and black pants,” the deputy wrote. “Hopkins had a badge similar in appearance to a police officer badge pinned above his left breast in the area a police officer would wear a badge. Hopkins had a gold star on each of his collars which is often a sign of rank. Hopkins had several military or law enforcement style pins all over his shirt in a uniform appearance.”
The reserve deputy, who’d remained at the gas station until backup arrived, said that
Hopkins claimed to be working “directly under George Bush,” who was president at the time. Hopkins “also claimed to [be]
doing ‘Operations’ in Afghanistan” and to be on his way “to pick up a team of agents to process a meth lab” in Northern California, the report said.
The report also said Hopkins, who was 57 at the time, had been showing off a gun to a group of teens before deputies arrived. When deputies searched Hopkins’ pickup truck, they found a piece of paper that had personal information, including the Social Security number, of an 18-year-old woman who’d been among the group.
When the deputy asked the young woman why Hopkins had her personal information, she said she believed Hopkins was going to help her get a job as a bounty hunter.
In the truck, deputies also found a Ruger pistol, a Winchester rifle and what the report described as “a stun device” disguised as a flashlight.
Hopkins told one of the deputies at the scene that he was a convicted felon and barred from possessing firearms, according to the report. He was arrested and booked into jail. Hopkins’ court case over the matter didn’t last long. He was indicted Nov. 13, 2006, in Klamath County Circuit Court on three felony counts: impersonating a peace officer and two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The district court in Midland County, Michigan only had one page remaining on file from the 1986 case — a felony “register of actions” that gave few details on the arrest. Hatewatch was unable to obtain records from the 1986 conviction before publication.
About a month after the indictment in Oregon, Hopkins struck a deal with prosecutors. He agreed to plead no contest to the impersonation charge and guilty to one of the two firearms charges. The second gun charged was dropped in the deal, court records show.
“On 11/5/06 I gave the impression to others that I was a peace officer and I was in possession of a firearm having been previously convicted of a felony,” Hopkins wrote in his plea documents.
He also acknowledged that the new felony convictions would mean he was prohibited from buying, selling or otherwise possessing firearms – like the one in Michigan had.
Judge Richard Rambo sentenced Hopkins the same day. On top of jail time and probation, he was also hit with $1,500 in fines and court fees.
There was a hitch, however. Hopkins had already served jail time before sentencing and, with those days credited to his 60-day sentence, was supposed to report to the probation office on Jan. 8, 2007. Court documents show he checked in with the office on the day of his sentencing but never returned. A parole officer wrote in a report that the office called Hopkins on Jan. 8 and gave him two more days to show up. Jan. 10, 2007 came and went with no sign of him.
“At this time,” the parole officer wrote, “Mr. Hopkins [sic] whereabouts are unknown.” A statewide warrant was issued the next day for his arrest. Hopkins could have faced 20 months in prison had he been caught, court records show. No one ever caught up with Hopkins for the violation. The warrant went unanswered for more than a decade.
Last year, while clearing out old cases, prosecutors asked a judge to dismiss the probation violation. The incident was “too old to effectively prosecute,” a deputy district attorney wrote. The request was signed by the judge the same day – June 6, 2018.
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https://www.nate-thayer.com/the-fantasy-life-of-an-armed-anti-immigrant-militia-leader-a-portrait-of-a-grifter/?fbclid=IwAR190gkKAVKNGUw6y_PR_XJrHYSWoUiQFrboBPnUbW0PmxJUKXpKgT0_TPYThe Fantasy Life of an Armed Anti-Immigrant Militia Leader: A Portrait of a Grifter
JUNE 13, 2019 BY NATE THAYER LEAVE A COMMENT
Military Deserter; Country Music Star Imposter; Law Enforcement Impersonator; Bigamist; Career Criminal; Dead Beat Dad
By Nate Thayer June 13, 2019
The son of a country music Hall of Fame legend, U.S. Army Special Forces Vietnam combat veteran Colonel Johnny Horton, Jr., the commander of the heavily armed, paramilitary United Constitutional Patriots militia group, drew nationwide headlines earlier this year for detaining illegal immigrants at gunpoint on the New Mexico border and vowing to defend the United States against an “invasion of illegal criminals.”
Jerry Mitchell Hopkins aka Johnny Horton, Jr., self appointed five-star general and commander of the New Mexico based United Constitutional Patriots vigilante militia. “I know the enemy is close to the border. I am going to fight and I may give my life but at least I will be there and stand by my oath. They didn’t get me when I was in the army. If they get me now at least I will die for our country and what keeping America free is all about,” wrote Horton, Jr earlier this year.
The gun-toting right-wing extremist leader of the United Constitutional Patriots vigilante group is, in truth, a
U.S. military deserter and career criminal, U.S. Army and court records show, who has lived the life of a fraud for more than a half century.
Johnny Horton, Jr. was
never with the U.S. Army Special Forces and never went to Vietnam, according to his official U.S. military records, both claims he has repeatedly asserted publicly. His name is not even Johnny Horton, Jr., according to federal court records.
Larry Mitchell Hopkins, 69, aka Johnny Horton, Jr., is a multiple convicted felon, who has left a colorful trail of criminal arrests nationwide, according to numerous court records obtained in this investigation, living the life of a grifter, conman, and fraud for the last half century landing him in county jails and state prisons from Tennessee to Texas to Michigan to South Dakota to Idaho to Oregon to Montana to Washington to California and, as of April 22, Las Cruces, New Mexico where the leader of the most high-profile armed paramilitary militia group in the United States, the United Constitutional Patriots, now resides in the county jail awaiting trial on federal charges of possession of firearms by a convicted felon.
Hopkins aka Horton didn’t “stand by his oath” when he was
formally designated as AWOL by the United States Army and “dropped from the rolls–desertion” from Ft Lewis, Washington on December 13, 1967 and on the run from the law until he was apprehended in Montana in late 1968 on
interstate auto theft and federal military desertion charges, according to Army and court records. His official U.S. military DD-214 records, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, list him a “Prisoner IHCA USAG Ft. MacArthur, CA” as of October 20, 1969 and again as of July 29, 1970 until he was released from an Army brig as a private and given the boot on August 27, 1970.
Those records show he was discharged from the U.S. military with an “RE3B” separation code–a designation that makes him ineligible to ever serve in the U.S. armed forces again–and denotes “individuals who are not qualified for continued Army service”, “ineligible for enlistment”, and whose “separation is in the best interests of the Army.”
The official U.S. army DD214 military records of Larry Mitchell Hopkins, who claims he is a three-tour combat veteran of Vietnam with the U.S. Army Special Forces with the rank of Colonel. The records show Hopkins spent his entire Army career in a military prison in California on charges of desertion before being booted with the rank of private.
For more than 40 years, Horton, Jr. has lived a Walter Mitty life of an imposter, touring America with his music act
falsely claiming to be the son of country music Hall of Fame legend, Johnny Horton, an identity he continues to insist is true despite the outraged protestations of Horton, Sr.’s actual family.
In November 1968, Hopkins was arrested in Montana on Washington state auto theft charges after he stole his girlfriends truck in Washington state and she complained to authorities. She also told the cops Hopkins was AWOL from the military. “Larry Mitchell Hopkins, 19, of Happy Camp, Calif., was picked up by Lake County Sheriff’s officers Tuesday on a federal warrant for interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle. He has been transferred to Missoula. Hopkins reportedly is AWOL from the service and is charged with the auto theft in another state,” reads a November 1968 Montana news article headlined “AWOL Serviceman Arrested at Polson.” Another Montana news clip that day said “Larry M. Hopkins, 19, Pablo, charged with transporting a stolen car in interstate commerce, was ordered held in Missoula County Jail under a $2,000 bond Thursday after being arraigned by U.S. Commissioner J. E. Brodie. Hopkins allegedly transported a stolen automobile from Bremerton, Wash., to Gait, Calif. He was arrested Wednesday by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents.”
He was turned over to military authorities and spent the next two years in a military prison
Court records show that
Hopkins has been arrested dozens of times by U.S. Army, federal, state, and local authorities and spent numerous spurts of time in county jails, military brigs, and state prisons in a multitude of states over the last half a century.
They show
Hopkins has been arrested for impersonating a police officer, writing bad checks, prison escape, failure to pay child support, bigamy, auto theft, possession of firearms by a convicted felon, being AWOL from the U.S. Army, numerous probation violations, escaping from federal custody, and defrauding music club owners, among numerous other charges.
At least twice, in Oregon and Texas, he was arrested on charges of impersonating a cop. He has repeatedly claimed to be a U.S. Army Special Forces Colonel combat veteran of Vietnam, and claims to have a son who was killed in combat during the Gulf war.
2019 New Mexico federal court document listing reasons why Larry Mitchell Hopkins is a risk to be given bail and released from pre-trial incarceration on federal charges of “possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.” Hopkins has fled from numerous criminal charges in several jurisdictions after being granted bail in recent decades. He remains in the Los Cruces, New Mexico county lockup awaiting trial as of June 2019.
In addition to his false Stolen Valor military claims and a career as the imposter son of a country music star,
Hopkins also claims to be Elvis Presley’s cousin, a graduate of the University of Wyoming, a full blood Cherokee Indian, and in regular contact with President Donald Trump since they met while, Hopkins claims, he was playing at a Casino in Las Vegas in the 1980’s, interviews and court records show.
None of those claims are true, either.
Hopkins is the “commander” and founder of the high profile United Constitutional Patriots armed militia group which grabbed headlines in 2019 after detaining hundreds of migrants at gunpoint along the United States-Mexico border. The group has issued calls “for reinforcements” of other far-right armed extremists who, equipped with war weaponry and using military tactics, have “deployed” to the border to conduct vigilante operations. They have raised thousands of dollars in donations over social media.
“They are former Green Berets. They are former law enforcement and they know what they are doing. This is what we need, people who know what they are doing. We are asking for former military or law enforcement,” an April, 2019 United Constitutional Patriots radio broadcast seeking support said.
The group’s listed objective is to “uphold the Constitution of The United States of America” and to protect citizens’ rights “against all enemies both foreign and domestic” — which mimics the Oath of Enlistment taken by U.S. military service members.
Assuming his GI Joe fantasy life as a battle tested U.S. Army Special Forces combat veteran of Vietnam leading his own private army defending America’s borders from what Hopkins calls “an invasion of criminals, drug cartels, muslim terrorists, and sex traffickers”,
Hopkins appointed himself a five star general of the United Constitutional Patriots, dressing in the full regalia including an Army Special Forces beret with five stars attached and five stars on shoulder epaulets, as well as U.S. army airborne wings on his chest.
Hopkins, of course, earned none of these ranks or medals. There have only been five five-stars in the U.S. Army and four in U.S. Navy in U.S. military history, and Larry Mitchell Hopkins is not one of them. They are George C. Marshall, Douglas MacArthur, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Henry H. Arnold, Omar Bradley, William D. Leahy, Ernest J. King, Chester Nimitz, and William F. Halsey. General Omar Bradley, the most senior commander of American ground troops in Europe from D-Day in June 1944 to the German surrender in May 1945, was the last officer to receive the rank, in 1950. The rank has lain dormant since then. United States Founding father George Washington is the only American to have been accorded six stars.
But that didn’t stop military deserter Hopkins from assuming that rank as head of the paramilitary United Constitutional Patriots border militia vigilante group.
The United Constitutional Patriots has deployed a rogues gallery of mostly overweight, middle-aged but heavily armed men dressed in mismatched military uniforms, adorned with regalia purchased over the Internet, to the border in New Mexico. Videos the group posted showing militia members wielding war weaponry ordering families, including young children, to sit on the dirt and wait for U.S. Border Patrol agents to take custody of them. The group is made up of “Americans that believe in the constitution and the rights of every American that will stand up for there [sic] rights in unity and help keep America safe,” according to their Facebook page.
On Facebook, the group says they are a nonprofit and insinuates they are associated with the United States Army Special Forces. “We are covered under the 501C3 Home of the 5th,” reads their Facebook page, referencing the U.S. army 5th Special Forces, a unit that
Hopkins falsely claims to have served three tours in Vietnam with the rank of Colonel. Shortly before his April 2019 arrest, photographs of Hopkins show him wearing a 5th Special Forces Vietnam Veteran hat and accompanying medals, including airborne jump wings.
Hopkins actual military record is straightforward and documented. He was never attached to the U.S. Army Special Forces, his official DD-214 U.S. Army military records show.
The entirety of his military service was spent in U.S. Army detention and prison after he deserted his unit in California shortly after enlisting in 1967 and went on the lam.
Hopkins fled when given a choice by a Montana judge in 1967 to join the army or go to jail and was on the run when he was arrested on interstate auto theft charges and federal charges as an Army deserter in 1969. U.S. army records show he spent the remainder of his Army career as a military “prisoner” in California before being less than honorably discharged two years later as an army private, having never gone to Vietnam.
In April, United Constitutional Patriots spokesman Jim Bevie defended Hopkins, saying “We’re just a group of volunteer patriots, veterans in law enforcement.” Bevie still contends Hopkins is “a 70-year-old Vietnam veteran…He was a victim in this.” Hopkins continues to assert that he is a combat-tested military veteran. Recently, Hopkins defended many of the more outlandish false claims he has made in recent years.
When questioned recently about his stolen valor false military record claims, Hopkins still double downs insisting he is a U.S. Army special forces Vietnam combat veteran. “I do want one thing cleared up real fast. What you thought said stolen valor does not say stolen valor at all. It was stolen vehicle,” Hopkins told the right wing militia radio podcast in a live interview from his single wide trailer in the New Mexico desert earlier this year. “The girl that I was going with back in Texas in the, I don’t know, early ’80’s, I used her truck. I didn’t get back when I was supposed to and she didn’t know how to find me so instead of calling the Texas state patrol or whatever it was to put a locator on me she reported it stolen. The next morning I went in front of the judge on arraignment and it was all straightened out and dismissed immediately.”
Actually, Hopkins appears to have lost track of his myriad of criminal charges and less than stellar association with the United States military over recent decades. According to court records, it was 1969 when he was first arrested on auto theft charges for stealing a girlfriends vehicle while simultaneously having outstanding warrants for desertion from the U.S. military. Instead of being “all straightened out and dismissed”, Hopkins was turned over to the FBI who then turned him over to the custody of the United States Army where he spent the next few years in a California military brig.
Hopkins has indeed been charged with auto theft related charges in Texas, California, Washington, and Montana. Twice he was returned to military custody on federal charges of desertion from the Army.
“You said your records are sealed—your military records?” asked the internet podcast interviewer. “I was told not to go into that, because there are people who are making false statements, my lawyers are telling them to cease and desist. They are going to court,” Hopkins replied.
“My grandfather was a Green Beret and did four tours and got three purple hearts and his military records were not sealed because it was not like he was Navy Seal,” the suspicious interviewer from Renegade Radio responded. “I was just wondering why you are so special.”
“I am not going into it. I don’t mean to be disrespectful,” said Hopkins.
“Okay. I was just wondering what made you so top secret, like if you were in with the CIA.”
“I can’t talk about it. I cannot talk about it,” said Hopkins. “I do get my military disability. I do have my VA card. And I do have my DD-214. My DD219 is sealed.”
There is no such thing as a DD219. Hopkins made that up, too. A DD214 is the official military record issued to anyone who has ever served in the U.S. uniformed services, and includes any deployments, training, rank, and awards, among other specifics of a veterans service. Hopkins declined to share his DD214 when asked. It was later obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request and more detailed portions of his military service record found in 2009 federal court records charging Hopkins with fleeing several states and assuming fake aliases to avoid paying court ordered child support payments.
Disclosing his DD214 service records “would have tied into the false valor, but if you have other ways of proving that you actually did serve then I will definitely back off. To be honest with you, I don’t even want to be involved with this. This is like watching soap operas,” the interviewer concluded.
“I am not going to talk about it. I was told that by my lawyers. If you come here I will prove to you I was part of the military,” said Hopkins.
“Okay, we are going to put the question of your arrest record to rest as everyone can change their ways and whatnot. I just have a question for you,” asked a far right militia member who hosts Renegade Network internet podcast. “If you’re not rich and you’re great friends with President Trump, Trey Gowdy, and Elvis Presley, how come they weren’t able to give you bond money, bail you out of jail, because I saw one of your bonds was $15,000. That is just something that boggles me there.”
“Just because you are friends with somebody doesn’t mean you are going to call them when you get in trouble,” Hopkins answered. “And as for being friends with Elvis Presley, that is going deeper. He is my cousin. That is proven.”
“The people that I know and who my friends are, I have earned every inch of their trust and respect. Now when you are talking about people and them, we have people—I’m not saying their names or anything—I’ve been told not to say their names any more because of the threats of the Democratic Party and on our radio show we have one of President Trump’s advisors. We have direct contact to the oval office through two other people. We are working directly with them,” Hopkins continued, referring to his rag-tag private militia efforts to intercept migrants on the southern border. “People can believe it or not. It is a fact. It’s true.”
Referring to Hopkins claims to be in regular contact with his “cousin” Elvis Presley, who Hopkins claims is alive and living in Hawaii, the radio interviewer asked “Why on earth, because you would be the man to know, would a man who is so successful go into hiding, Elvis, your cousin, in Hawaii. Don’t you think he would have been recognized by now.”
“He has been recognized. He has tried to come out. Go to youtube 2012 you will see a video he did that says ‘I’m still alive’.” Hopkins replied. “The whole deal was he was involved in the DEA. He had to go into hiding because he was a witness. It was a huge deal where the mafia was concerned. You can check that out. Google it. You will also find out he came out of hiding five years ago and right now he is ready to come back out for the whole world.”
A poster Hopkins put on his militia group Facebook page in March 2019 referring to himself : “Johnny Horton, Jr. American Rockstar” subtitled “American Patriot Standing Up For His Nations Sovereignty.”
Life as Country Music Star Imposter
For decades, Larry Mitchell Hopkins has played the country music circuit under the name Johnny Horton, Jr., the son of country music hall of fame legend Johnny Horton. Hopkins has been revealed as an imposter multiple times in several states.Calling himself “traditional country music artist” Johnny Horton, Jr., Hopkins has videos of different versions of him singing the song “The Green Beret” with footage of soldiers in battle and the American flag waving in the background.
In May 1981, Hopkins was publicly exposed as an imposter during a show he was performing as Johnny Horton, Jr. at the Hanging Tree Tavern in Spokane, Washington. A suspicious drummer in his band checked his background and learned Johnny Horton had two children–both girls– but no sons. The drummer called Horton Sr.’s widow, Billie Jean, in Louisiana.”She was super hot about it,” he said.
At the time during live performances at roadside bars, Hopkins was referring to his “wonderful memories” with “daddy.” Horton Sr.’s widow was so incensed she flew from Louisiana to Spokane and was listening from the audience. “I was choking. It hurt me a lot. The Bible also says you should not steal, and you’re stealing from Johnny Horton still a great name in country music and I hope they put you in prison for a long time.”
A May 9, 1981 Associated Press article headlined “Widow exposes singer’s son as impostor” was published in papers throughout the U.S. and Canada. Hopkins had just married a woman under the name Horton, Jr. the day before Horton, Sr.’s widow flew from Louisiana to Spokane, Washington to confront the imposter. Upon learning her new husband was not Johnny Horton Jr.,
Hopkins’ new bride stormed out of the bar and filed for an annulment. In addition to her new husband not being who he said he was, she was unaware Hopkins was still married to another woman from Michigan at the time under a third alias.
“I think maybe she married me for the name rather than for myself,” Hopkins aka Horton said at the time.
Hopkins had no choice but to confess.
The real Johnny Horton with his then wife Billie Jean. Horton had two children–both girls. Larry Mitchell Hopkins was not one of them The bar owner was quoted as saying “He said he was in town when he started having troubles with his bus, which had broken down.” He asked to work as a singer, the bar owner said, “My mistake was not pulling his I.D., old gullible me. I was excited about someone that important coming in.”
“If I was wrong for what I did, for loving a man’s music and what he stood for, then I guess I’m wrong,” Hopkins told a reporter while sitting at the bar nursing a drink after his music act was fired. “But I’ll never do it again.”
But he did. In Michigan in 1986, Hopkins was arrested again for impersonating Johnny Horton Jr. at a bar he was performing at under the name Johnny Horton, Jr., and charged with “obtaining money under false pretenses.”
He incurred additional charges for “prison escape” while held in the Michigan county lockup. At that time, he gave police his name as Scott Alan Curtiss but his real identity was discovered as Larry Mitchell Hopkins.
What is true is that Hopkins is a serial bigamist and dead beat dad who has married multiple women without the benefit of divorce or legal annulment from other, current wives and fathered children he has criss-crossed the country defying court ordered child support payments, according to federal and state court records from multiple jurisdictions over a 30 year period.
