Augustus Invictus Charged With Kidnapping, Domestic Violence in South Carolina
“Alt-right” figure Augustus Sol Invictus was denied bond Thursday for charges of kidnapping, domestic violence and possession of a weapon during a crime of violence.
Invictus, born Austin Mitchell Gillespie, has lingered on the margins of the modern radical right for years, using its growing visibility to preach his own violent, misogynistic and totalitarian worldview. In 2017, he attached himself to the rising alt-right movement, appearing as a planned headline speaker at the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and collaborating with white nationalist leader Richard Spencer on an alt-right “manifesto.”
Last month, a woman who said she was Invictus’ wife reported that he held her at gunpoint in front of their children and forced her to accompany him to Jacksonville, Florida, according to documents obtained from the Rock Hill Police Department in South Carolina. She told police that she was able to escape while in Florida and return to South Carolina.
Invictus was picked up in Brevard County, Florida, on Dec. 30, according to Lt. Michael Chavis of the Rock Hill Police Department. He was transported to Rock Hill Wednesday night and had a bond hearing Thursday afternoon. According to Chavis, the judge denied bond for all three charges.
Invictus’ arrest was first reported on Twitter by freelance journalist Nick Martin.
Though allegations of domestic violence have trailed Invictus for years, this is the first time he has been formally charged. In 2017, Hatewatch wrote about a string of violent incidents involving Invictus, some involving a firearm, that were reported to law enforcement officials in Florida. In 2014, two men living with Invictus told police that he would “brandish a gun in the house,” and one said that Invictus threatened him with that gun.
In 2016, the woman who reported the Rock Hill kidnapping to police reported two violent incidents in Florida. In March, she told Orlando police that Invictus had been stalking her and threatened to “shoot her on the spot.” Five months later, in August, she gave a sworn statement to the Altamonte Springs Police Department alleging that he beat and strangled her following an argument.
In March 2017, a different woman told police in Edgewood, Florida, that Invictus repeatedly abused her between November 2015 and January 2017. Her allegations included physical violence, false imprisonment and sexual assault. She told officers about one occasion when he attacked her, dragged her into a closet and held a gun to her head, threatening to kill her.
Invictus spoke with Hatewatch in 2017, when he was in California to attend a small far-right conference called “Make Men Great Again.” When asked about the March 2017 allegations of sexual assault and kidnapping, he denied that the attacks occurred.
Invictus ran for U.S. Senate twice in Florida, in the Libertarian Party primary in 2016 and, briefly, in the Republican Party primary in 2018. He advocates for a violent overthrow of the U.S. government and talks frequently about his desire for a bloody revolution. Despite these views, he’s running for president with a platform that calls for an end to the 14th and 15th Amendments. He also would bar women from voting and owning property and would create a “newly established territory” for descendants of American slavery that would be cut off from the greater United States. In 2017, he told Hatewatch that he is not convinced the Holocaust occurred.
“Do I believe that six million Jews were killed by evil Hitler? Is that what you’re asking?” he said. “Okay, then I am still waiting to see those facts.”
Augustus Sol Invictus booking photo from Rock Hill, South Carolina, Police Department
