Queens man who advocated violence online charged with having illegal weapons
Two Queens men were charged Wednesday with illegal possession of weapons, including one who posted ethnic and religious slurs on his Instagram account along with his hopes for a racial holy war, according to court papers and a court hearing.
The two, Joseph Miner, 29, and Daniel Jou, 40, neighbors and friends from Bayside, were arrested Tuesday evening at an unidentified hotel near LaGuardia Airport on charges of possession of illegal weapons, officials said.
The two are accused of purchasing an assault rifle with a silencer, handguns and a shotgun from an undercover FBI agent who was pretending to be a dealer in illegal weapons. The weapons had their serial numbers defaced.
In Miner's case, in addition to his weapons’ purchases, federal prosecutors wrote in court papers: "Even more disconcerting, on or about, January 22, 2020, Miner posted a photograph of the entrance" to a Jewish community center in Queens.
Federal Magistrate Robert Levy held both Miner and Jou as a danger to the community but said he would allow them to attempt to post bond in the future.
Though there was no evidence that Miner was about to undertake any immediate violence, his Instagram posting plus his purchase of illegal weapons clearly argued he should be detained as a danger to the community, authorities said.
Prosecutors stressed that “Instagram messages posted … reveal that Miner frequently displayed suicidal ideation and fantasized about ‘martyring’ himself and 'go[ing] out in a blaze of glory’ in a mass shooting type of attack.”
They also said that in another Instagram posting, “Miner considered ‘go[ing] out firing. Go on a spree after my enemies til authorities take me out…’”
In other Instagram posts, according to prosecutors, Miner put up “a photograph of himself giving a Nazi salute.
There was no suggestion that Miner’s co-defendant Jou had been involved in any racist posting. But in arguing against releasing Jou on bail, federal prosecutors said he had also purchased a machine gun from the FBI undercover agent and that might lead to further charges.
The prosecutors also said that Jou wanted to buy as many as eight weapons from the undercover, but did not have the money at the time.
Miner and Jou were not required to enter pleas.
Miner’s attorney, Benjamin Silverman, declined to comment.
Jou’s attorney could not be immediately reached for comment on the case.
Eastern District United States Attorney Richard Donoghue said in a statement:
“As alleged, after Joseph Miner praised extremist violence and expressed racist and anti-Semitic hatred on the internet, he and his co-defendant bought a collection of illegal firearms capable of inflicting mass bloodshed,” stated United States Attorney Donoghue. “What the defendants did not know was that they were buying the guns from an undercover federal agent who had been investigating their plan to buy weapons that would be impossible to trace.
Bob Kessler covers federal law, including law enforcement agencies such as the FBI, DEA, IRS and ATF, as well as the federal courts.
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