Steve Anderson, a right-wing extremist pirate radio broadcaster and former member of the Kentucky State Militia, was arrested in Cherokee County, North Carolina on November 22 after eluding authorities for over a year.

Anderson, 54, escaped into the mountains of eastern Kentucky in October 2001 after allegedly shooting at Bell County Deputy Sheriff Scott Elder during a traffic stop.

Anderson was returning from a white supremacist gathering in North Carolina when he was pulled over because of a broken taillight. According to authorities, Elder asked Anderson if he had any weapons, at which point Anderson stepped out of his vehicle and opened fire on Elder and his patrol car. Anderson allegedly fled the scene and lost police when he drove his truck onto an unpaved road.

Elder was not injured, but his cruiser was hit more than 20 times. When authorities found Anderson's truck the next day, they discovered a pipe bomb and ammunition in it. Other weapons and explosives were discovered during a subsequent search of Anderson's property.

Anderson achieved notoriety long before the shooting incident. He was kicked out of the Kentucky State Militia, once one of the most active militia groups in the country, in April 2001 for racist and anti-Semitic comments he made on his shortwave radio broadcasts.

Anderson, who operated "United Patriot Radio" from his Pulaski County, Kentucky home, filled his shortwave radio broadcasts with inflammatory comments about Jews, blacks and immigrants, and promoted the use of weapons and violence against law enforcement officers. Anderson operated the station as a pirate radio station, thereby flouting FCC licensing regulations.

In September 2000, Anderson encouraged fellow militia members to confront and kill federal agents: "Dead men don't arrest anyone, dead men don't kick in doors, dead men don't prosecute anyone…TAKE CARE OF BUSINESS….If you're going to call yourself militia, then BE militia."

During one of his shows, Anderson also allegedly made veiled threats against an editor at an Eastern Kentucky newspaper, the Commonwealth Journal, who included him in a series of articles on hate.

At the time these broadcasts were made, ADL warned federal and local law enforcement officials in Kentucky about Anderson's statements threatening force against law enforcement officers.

Anderson is an adherent of Christian Identity, a racist and anti-Semitic religious sect that teaches that whites ("Aryans") are descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel and are God's chosen people, while Jews are descendants of Satan and non-whites are soulless "mud peoples."

The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms arrested Anderson after receiving a tip following a November 2 episode of "America's Most Wanted," which aired a segment on Anderson.

Anderson is being held in Asheville, N.C., pending transfer to Kentucky.

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