That Racist MAGA Truck Guy Turns Out to Be an Immigrant Himself

A 51-year-old Trump fan accused of waging a racist and xenophobic intimidation campaign against local residents amassed a disquieting collection of Nazi and Ku Klux Klan memorabilia at the North Carolina home he shares with his two daughters, according to an FBI search warrant application obtained by The Daily Beast.

Photographs of the grotesque items are included in the document, which was filed on June 20, two days before Marian Hudak was apprehended.

But the filing also reveals that Hudak, who the feds say especially railed against foreigners, screaming at the family next door to “go back to Mexico,” is himself an immigrant.

Hudak, who the warrant says was mistaken for Hispanic by at least one witness, is charged with two counts of interference with federally protected activities and criminal interference with the right to fair housing, allegedly terrorizing people of color in the area for more than a year.

Hudak immigrated to the United States in 2001, the warrant application states, though it does not specify his birth country. (“Hudak” is an Eastern European name, according to Ancestry.com.) It says he first appeared on law enforcement’s radar in 2017, and since March 2020 has had “at least 17 instances of law enforcement contact,” including threats, racist episodes, and weapons violations.

Among other things, prosecutors say Hudak has pulled guns, unprovoked, on members of minority groups; verbally abused and physically assaulted his Mexican neighbors; and attempted to run Black motorists off the road in his Trump-and-Confederate-flag-bedecked pickup truck. In July 2022, Hudak was banned from a Sam’s Club after parking the truck outside the store and spewing racial slurs through a loudspeaker. That December, Hudak was arrested in downtown Concord, sitting in an intersection, yelling, “Fuck you, [N-word]” at Black passersby. When confronted by police, Hudak insisted being racist was his First Amendment right.

Hudak was already under state supervision when he was taken into custody by the feds under Title 18 and Title 42 laws, which make it illegal to harass anyone based on their race, religion, gender, sexual preference, or national origin. Last November, Hudak was sentenced to probation on a misdemeanor property damage charge, North Carolina Department of Adult Correction data shows. In December, seven months before Hudak would find himself on the wrong side of a federal indictment, Cabarrus County authorities “conducted a probation search” of his tidy three-bed, two-bath home, according to the warrant application.

There, it says, investigators found “several” items of concern—specifically, “three Nazi flags, a KKK flag, three rings with the Iron Cross, and a French Foreign Legion medal and the U.S. Army Parachutist badge affixed to a black beret.”

Heather J. Hagan, an Army spokeswoman, told The Daily Beast that DoD has no record of Hudak’s service, but that if he served more than 15 years ago, any files would now be stored at the National Archives.

The FBI has received information that Hudak has informed others of a desire to travel to Syria “to join his new friends,” and that he “has publicly burned the American flag and other items,” according to the warrant application. Cops have encountered Hudak “wearing a TAC-vest, armed with several loaded weapons, knives, brass knuckles, and an ASP baton,” it goes on. “Hudak would frequently get intoxicated and show erratic and aggressive behavior.”

In June 2020, Hudak was interviewed by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, after which the investigation was closed, according to the warrant application. Under questioning, it says, Hudak explained away his Syria plan by blaming it on the booze, insisting he was “very drunk” when he “said something stupid due to excessive alcohol consumption.”

“When asked about racial comments, Hudak advised he had trouble with some African American neighbors across the street,” the warrant application states. “Hudak stated that they do not agree with his political beliefs, and most likely did not like his Confederate flags and pro-Trump flags. Further, Hudak stated he does not hate Black people and actually rented a property to a wonderful Black couple.”

On social media, Hudak appears significantly less relaxed, posting aphorisms to Facebook such as, “Don’t fucking bark if you can’t bite,” and “I’m not cold hearted, I’m just sick of being fucked over.”

FBI agents want to review the contents of Hudak’s cellphone, noting that he has told local police in the past that he uses the device “to take pictures and videos, which he considers ‘evidence,’ of his encounters [with] those he whose behavior he considers to be objectionable,” the warrant application continues. Investigators also want to obtain footage from surveillance cameras Hudak kept on his property, at least one of which the warrant application says was pointed at a neighbor’s home.

“[O]n August 30, 2022, Hudak mentioned [to a county cop] he had a body camera in his truck that he should start using,” the warrant application states.

A June 29 detention order filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina offers an additional glimpse into Hudak’s chaotic life. It says Hudak had disputed a number of details in a sealed report compiled by the Pretrial Services Unit.

“Defense counsel noted that [Hudak] no longer takes Zolpidem for sleep,” the order states. “Further, [Hudak] indicated that the November 2020 charge is incorrectly noted in his prior criminal history; it should be Misdemeanor Concealed Weapon After/While Consuming Alcohol (in which the weapon was a knife).”

A week earlier, FBI agents conducted a fresh search of Hudak’s home and vehicles, according to the order, which says the effort turned up a U.S. Secret Service badge, tactical gear labeled “POLICE,” a radar gun, tasers, ammunition, a smoke grenade, a menacing array of knives and swords, and a “book depicting racial slurs.”

It also says Hudak, who has pleaded not guilty, pushed back on a section of the report that referenced a December 2022 probation violation, noting that he had been caught with “weapons including fixed blades, brass knuckles, and a stun gun. However, [Hudak] states that he did not have a stun gun.”

In a bid to be released on bond, Hudak proffered one of his daughters, who graduated high school in 2020, as a potential third-party custodian to supervise him, according to the order. Unswayed, the judge overseeing Hudak’s case remanded him to federal custody as he awaits trial.

Still, the order states, “Defendant and his daughter… both deny reports that she suffers with anxiety and is not dependable.”

Hudak was indicted June 26, and arraigned on Monday. He remains detained pending trial, which is scheduled for October. In an email, Lisa Costner, Hudak’s federal defender, said on Thursday that she could not comment on a pending case.