Oath Keepers leader is a former Las Vegas police detective who welcomed ‘race war’: Report

Alleged role reportedly revealed after anti-militia infiltrator secretly captured evidence about Oath Keepers

A man allegedly in control of a Utah-based spinoff of the far-right anti-government Oath Keepers group is reportedly a former Las Vegas police detective who once spoke approvingly of a coming “race war” and “revolution” inside the U.S.

Robert “Bobby” Kinch has been listed as state leader of Oath Keepers Utah, and is president of a company called Northbridge Patriots LLC, which has held the trademarks for Oath Keepers USA since May 2023, The Guardian reports.

The information about Kinch emerged after an unnamed individual spent years infiltrating far-right groups throughout the Western U.S., including visiting Kinch’s home in the Utah mountains. The Distributed Denial of Secrets whistleblower coalition provided chat logs and other files to the outlet.

The infiltrator reportedly photographed plaques commemorating Kinch’s police service, a membership certificate for the Utah Oath Keepers listing Kinch as “state leader,” and an Ernest Hemingway quote on a plaque reading, “Certainly there is no hunting like the hunting of man and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never really care for anything else thereafter.”

The individual also claimed Kinch had a stockpile of weapons and shelf-stable food.

The Independent has contacted Kinch for comment.

Reported leader of spinoff group from far-right militia that helped attack Capitol on January 6 once served in Vegas police and posted on Facebook about coming race war (Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Kinch was a longtime officer in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

During his time on the force, colleagues discovered inflammatory Facebook messages, including a post that reportedly read: “Let’s just get this over! Race war, Civil, Revolution? Bring it! I’m about as fed up as a man (American, Christian, White, Heterosexual) can get!”

An internal investigation later revealed a photo of Kinch pointing a handgun at a commemorative plate featuring the face of Barack Obama, allegedly taken at a party with other police present. A department official alerted the Secret Service to the photo, nearly prompting a federal raid.

Kinch remained on the force after the flare-ups. He later launched a discrimination case against the department, claiming he was retaliated against after testifying in a 2015 discrimination suit from a colleague.

Kinch later retired from the force in 2016.

The national Oath Keepers group claims tens of thousands of members, comprised of current and former military and police officials.

The group claims to defend constitutional liberties from federal overreach and has regularly participated in armed standoffs and vigilante-style security patrols during protests.

Multiple members of the group joined in the January 6 Capitol riot and were charged with seditious conspiracy.

Donald Trump has suggested in recent weeks he will pardon nearly all of those charged with January 6-related offenses, beginning his first day in office.