The Kenoza Lake man accused of intentionally starting a fire at a Jeffersonville gas station Sept. 29 has a history of ties to a neo-Nazi group and lost his job as a college professor when the connection surfaced.

Jacques A. Pluss, 65, was charged with a felony count of second-degree arson when he was arrested this month.

Sullivan County Undersheriff Eric Chaboty said police don’t know what Pluss’ motive was.

His ties to the National Socialist Movement - what the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as the largest neo-Nazi group in the country - date back more than a decade.

In 2005, Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey fired Pluss, then a history professor. University officials cited missed classes, but Pluss said it was for his political views, according to media reports.

At the time, the National Socialist Movement’s website said Pluss was in charge of the “Office of Information,” according to a report by Inside Higher Ed.

Pluss wrote an article for History News Network in 2006 in which he said he joined the National Socialist Movement to research fascism for a book.

While a member from February to October of 2005, he hosted a weekly radio show called “White Viewpoint,” where he wrote he “spewed venom against Jews, Blacks and Hispanics.”

Pluss wrote that he revealed his involvement via a letter to Fairleigh Dickinson University’s student newspaper.

History News Network later reported that in August of 2006, Pluss changed his story and is “currently an unrepentant National Socialist and has dedicated himself to this cause.” ...