Taco protester arraigned on gun charge

A Whitman County man who bragged online about being involved with racist taco-truck protests in Kootenai County pleaded not guilty to a federal gun charge today.

A bail hearing for Jeremiah Daniel “J.D.” Hop, 29, is set for Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. before U.S. Magistrate Cynthia Imbrogno.

Hop, who is at the Spokane County Jail, was arrested Wednesday morning. He told Imbrogno he had “just a little stress, that’s all,” when she asked if he suffered from mental conditions that might prohibit his understanding of the court proceedings.

Hop, who was convicted in California of third-degree rape of a child in 2005, is not a member of the Aryan Nations but is involved in racist circles.

Under the name WhitePhoenix, a man who identified himself as Hop wrote on the racist website Stormfront about his work protesting taco stands in the Coeur d’Alene area.

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