White Nationalist Who Claimed To Drink Blood Arrested For Allegedly Stalking Scared Wife After Coronavirus-Related Jail Release

A reputed white nationalist who was released from jail amid COVID-19 concerns after allegedly kidnapping his wife at gunpoint has been arrested again for continuing to terrorize the woman, authorities say.

Augustus Sol Invictus, 36, was granted a $10,000 bond on March 31 by a South Carolina Circuit Court, the Herald Online reported at the time. Even though there were no reported cases at the South Carolina jail where he was held, a judge agreed with his lawyer that there were health concerns amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Invictus, born Austin Gillespie​, had been previously been ordered held without bond after he was arrested in January on kidnapping and domestic violence charges.

Invictus had been arrested at a Florida mall on a warrant issued out of South Carolina after he allegedly kidnapped his wife, Anna Invictus, the Daily Beast reported in February. She claimed he forced her to drive with him from South Carolina to Florida in December. She escaped and returned to South Carolina where she called police.

Augustus Sol Invictus Photo: Orange County Jail

Following Invictus’ bond grant, he was forbidden to travel back to South Carolina; his lawyer said he would go to Florida instead.

He did return to Florida but allegedly couldn’t refrain from continuing to torment his wife. He was arrested Monday evening in Melbourne and charged with aggravated stalking after an injunction, according to an Orange County Sheriff’s Office arrest warrant obtained by Oxygen.com. Now, he’s been booked on a $50,000 bond, according to online jail records.

After his pandemic-related release, he allegedly used a third party to contact his wife and make demands to see their two kids, according to an affidavit obtained by the Orlando Sentinel. Invictus allegedly ordered his wife to bring their children to an Orlando park "or else." He cornered family members in the same park since his jail release, authorities allege.

His wife pleaded with a judge in February to deny Invictus bond, citing alleged long-term abuse, according to a statement obtained by journalist Nick Martin, who focuses on covering extremist movements. Anna said in the statement that Invictus “has abused me more times than I can count.” Furthermore, she claimed he had a "Charles Manson-like mind control" and that she will fear for her life if he is released from jail.

Interestingly, Invictus’ father, John Gillespie, was also arrested this week. Gillespie, a 71-year-old defense attorney, was arrested Saturday in Central Florida for allegedly agreeing to pay for sex with a law enforcement agent posing as a teen, the Orlando Sentinel reports. He’s now being held at the Orange County Jail — where his son is — without bond.

Invictus came to prominence in white nationalist circles as one of the headline speakers at 2017's deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, according to the Miami Herald. White nationalist Richard Spencer, who organized the event previously praised Invictus for playing a large role there. It turned deadly when counter-protester Heather Heyer was struck and killed by a car driven into a crowd of demonstrators by James Alex Fields.

Invictus later launched a failed U.S. Senate bid in Florida's Libertarian primary in 2016, during which he claimed he killed a goat and drank its blood as part of a pagan ritual. He lost badly. Invictus’ Twitter currently indicates that he’d like to run for president.