White Supremacist Leader Pleads Guilty to Charges of Perjury, Weapons Violation

A white supremacist leader arrested last week on perjury and weapons charges pleaded guilty in Orange County Superior Court on Wednesday and was sentenced to four months in jail.

John Frederick Steele II, 29, of Long Beach, was also placed on three years’ probation and ordered not to associate with white supremacist groups, said Michelle Emard, a spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Steele, leader of the California-based “Brandenburg Division” of Aryan Nations, was arrested Nov. 18 and charged with perjury in connection with financial statements made to law enforcement officials while he was on probation for an earlier crime. He was also charged with owning weapons in violation of that probation.

Two other people arrested at the same time -- Christine Greenwood and her boyfriend, John Patrick McCabe -- have been arraigned on charges of possessing bomb-making materials in the Anaheim apartment they shared. Greenwood was recently released on bail, Emard said, and McCabe was transferred to Orange County Jail from a state prison, where he was serving time for an unrelated crime.

Both are scheduled to appear at a pretrial hearing Monday, Emard said.

Among the materials authorities said they found in the couple’s apartment in 1999 were 50 gallons of gasoline, BBs, razor blades, 16 nails that could be used as shrapnel and clocks that could operate as timers.

A more recent search of Steele’s home, they said, uncovered a letter addressed to the white supremacist Christian Defense League that urged members to align themselves with Palestinians who target Jews.