ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. – Signs from a group the Southern Poverty Law Center and others have labeled as a white nationalist organization have popped up in St. Charles County in recent weeks, prompting concerns from community members.

The signs, with phrases like “Better dead than red” and “Not stolen, conquered,” appear to belong to the Patriot Front, a group that formed in the wake of a splintering of neo-Nazi organizations after the “Unite the right” white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va. in 2017. 

Jenna Roberson, a Democratic candidate for the Missouri House in 2022, recently spotted signs on utility poles and boxes, and is aware of at least three in the city of Wentzville, which have since been taken down. She notified city officials, including Wentzville Mayor Nick Guccione, who last week reminded the public on Facebook that posting materials on those areas in public right of way is illegal.

“Hoping that’s all it is. It’s just somebody deciding that’s what they want to do, but given the violent history of this group and their belief system, it caused some concern for some of the people out here,” Roberson said.

“There is a formula to attracting these kinds of groups and I feel like we’re checking things off the list,” Roberson said, noting the community controversy over content in school libraries. “We have all these things that are like sending up a bat signal to invite these people in and I’m not saying I’m blaming this on any particular citizen or parent or anybody, I don’t think these are intentions but this is what we were concerned about.”

Two men from the St. Louis region were arrested last summer in Idaho for allegedly being part of a Patriot Front plot to riot at a Gay Pride event.

Mitchell Wagner, of Florissant, and Garret Garland, of Freeburg, Ill. were both charged with misdemeanor criminal conspiracy. Wagner’s trial is due to start next month.

Wagner also awaits trial for a St. Louis County case of felony property damage. He’s accused of spray painting the Patriot Front name on an African-American mural at Washington University.

“We have some people that are very scared," Roberson said. “They’re very scared of what this group is because they know what they’re capable of and they know that they would possibly be a target based on their beliefs and ideologies.”