Minuteman Militia Founder & Senate Candidate Chris Simcox Sentenced To 20 Years For Child Molestation

The Arizona Republic reports:

Chris Simcox, the former leader of the Minuteman border vigilante group, was sentenced to 19.5 years in prison Monday, bringing an end to a sex-abuse case involving two girls under 10.

A Maricopa County Superior Court jury found Simcox, 55, guilty last month of two counts of child molestation and one count of furnishing obscene material to a minor after a three-week trial. The jury composed of three women and nine men, found him not guilty on three other counts of sexual conduct with a minor — a charge that carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

Simcox was arrested in 2013 after two girls, ages 5 and 6, accused him of touching them inappropriately between 2012 and 2013.

Simcox was sentenced to two concurrent sentences of 17 years for each of the molestation counts and an additional 2.5-year sentence for furnishing obscene materials to a minor.

Simcox represented himself at trial and reportedly earned multiple delays with long handwritten conspiracy-laced motions and demands to cross-examine his victims. In addition to the Minuteman militia, Simcox co-founded a separate militia group with a neo-Nazi who went on to murder four people, including an infant, before taking his own life.

A kindergarten teacher for 13 years, Simcox sought to unseat Sen. John McCain in 2010, but withdrew from the race to endorse former US Rep. J.D. Hayworth, who now hosts a television show for the right wing site Newsmax.
(Tipped by JMG reader Ty)