Court Records Provide Inside Look at the Tumultuous Family Life of a Violent Skinhead

Chad Bostwick only wants the same “opportunities most parents cherish” – to tuck in his daughter at night, to be the first person she sees when she wakes up, to go to church on Sunday mornings, to knock back a couple of cold ones together once she’s a teenager, and even to beat up or kill her future boyfriends.

Bostwick, 40, was until recently a longtime, patched member of the ultra-violent skinhead group Volksfront and was considered one of its most aggressive members. He has a long rap sheet that includes multiple assaults in addition to charges of burglary, theft, illegal weapons possession and domestic abuse. He’s also known as the lead singer for the Volksfront band Enforcer, which recently signed a recording deal with the white-power label Get Some 88. -

Now, Hatewatch has obtained court records that provide a glimpse into Bostwick’s tumultuous family life, portraying him as a deadbeat dad who owes more than $54,000 in back child support payments and whose violence and criminality represent a threat to his children’s well-being.

The Folkish Women’s Front, Volksfront’s sister organization, has a creed that reads, “One Front, One Family” – a sentiment that does not seem to be shared by Volksfront men like Bostwick, who has six children (according to a court statement by one’s mother) by at least three different women.

The court records obtained by Hatewatch were filed in a Nebraska court, where Bostwick is seeking expanded visitation rights, including overnight visits, for his youngest daughter, who is nearly 2.

“I do not believe that [my daughter] would be/is safe with Chad and believe that he will only place her in a situation of danger and also to where she is to be manipulated, treated as property and taught that criminal activity, violence and a lack of responsibility are the norm and preferred ways of life,” wrote the girl’s mother in an Aug. 12, 2013, affidavit submitted to the court.

His former girlfriend alleges in her Aug. 12 affidavit that in the fall of 2011, after discovering that she was pregnant, Bostwick told her that she “‘trapped’ him, he did not want to have a child with [her] and that he would not be signing a birth certificate or held legally responsible for another child.” Even  so, according to other statements by the girl's mother, Bostwick demanded that she and the baby attend national Volksfront events after the pair, who were unmarried, had separated or “he would take [their daughter] anyway and she wouldn't see her again.”

The couple separated in November 2011. “His increased hostility and threats to hit me and ‘beat me up’ led me to realize that continuing a relationship and/or living with Chad would pose a risk to my daughter mentally, emotionally and physically,” she wrote in the Aug.  12 affidavit.

After she gave birth in March 2012, Bostwick followed through with his promise to abdicate his legal responsibility by refusing to sign the baby’s birth certificate and, as of July 11, 2013, accruing almost $1,600 in unpaid child support payments.

That wasn't all he owed. A July 11, 2013, document from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services lists Bostwick’s total unpaid child support, for various children, at $54,498.45.

The Aug. 12 affidavit also alleges that while the girl's mother was pregnant, Bostwick and an associate were growing and selling marijuana in their home. Her statement claims that the operation eventually expanded from a bedroom closet to a full-blown grow room in a large communal space in the house.

After Bostwick's ex-girlfriend moved out, she alleges, he continued to harass her and threaten her with violence.

A Nov. 19, 2013, affidavit also alleges that Bostwick would regularly threaten to beat up or kill boys that his other daughter, who is now 14, would reference when talking to her father. She says Bostwick would encourage his son David, 18, to “fight, be aggressive and have control of any situation.” She claims that as a result, David became increasingly disrespectful and hostile toward her while they lived in the same home.

David, who regularly lived with his mother (another ex-girlfriend), was staying with Bostwick and his youngest daughter's mother during the summer of 2012. “David was encouraged to drink alcohol with his father and did not live in hygienic circumstances. David was provided ‘a room’ in the unfinished basement which was full of litter boxes and scattered animal feces,” she wrote in the Nov. 19, 2013, affidavit. According to her statement, David was left alone without a phone or food for long periods. Even after the couple separated she would bring him food to ensure that he was able to eat.

For his part, David submitted an affidavit in support of his father, saying Bostwick “has been and still is a great infulce [sic] in my life.” David, who was recently held back during his senior year of high school, is being tutored by his father, according to his affidavit. He has also recently conquered his stage fright and joined the varsity show choir after the two began playing music together.

Bostwick disputes his ex-girlfriend’s characterization of him as unfit to have overnight visits with his daughter. “[She] has everything a child could need or want in our loving home,” he wrote in a Nov. 15, 2013, affidavit. “There is food, she has her own clothes, toys and books and her own room and is loved by all the family.”

The girl’s mother's concerns,  however, are not limited to Chad Bostwick, but extend to others with whom he is associated, including Chad’s brother Drew, a Christian Identity pastor (allegedly ordained by Richard Butler of the Aryan Nations) who also is in the band Enforcer.

In her August 12, 2013, statement, his ex-girlfriend requested that her daughter not be taken to Drew Bostwick’s house. In statements obtained by Hatewatch, she recounts an episode at a Volksfront event in May 2011 in which Drew attempted to commit suicide with prescription drugs. After Chad forced him to throw up, Drew stabbed him in the hand. Chad then punched him in face, causing Drew’s jaw to break as he hit the ground. The fight was witnessed by her, Drew’s wife and his young son.

According to his former girlfriend, Bostwick’s life reflects a “belief system” he has had since he was 17 “that will never change.”