By Steve McReynolds
Globe Staff Writer

PINEVILLE, Mo. … A McDonald County man who has been in jail since June 1994 was given credit for time already served when he was sentenced Friday on charges of resisting arrest and possession of a concealed weapon.

Robert Joos, 44, a self-proclaimed Nazirite who told authorities that his farm was a church, was released from the county jail.

Don Schlessman, sheriff, said law enforcement officers are educating themselves to deal with people like Joos whose anti-government philosophies often lead them into conflicts with lawmen. At a recent seminar at St. Louis, Schlessman learned about techniques used by tax protesters, religious protesters and others considered by police as potential threats to commit domestic terrorism.

Joos said at the sentencing that his conviction March 27 by a jury was part of an effort by local authorities to harass him.

Schlessman said Joos' conviction has yielded more than 20 faxes from around the United States from people who believe Joos was unfairly treated.

``There are supporters out there for people like him,'' Schlessman said. ``There's a loose coalition between people of similar beliefs who think the federal government is no good and it needs to be overthrown.''

Lawmen suspect that the man who is accused of shooting of Bob Harper, a highway patrolman, in November 1994 is a friend of Joos' and is being hidden by those who are members of that ``loose coalition.'' Schlessman said authorities will continue to search for Timothy Thomas Coombs while they prepare for the next run-in with anti-government sympathizers.

Authorities have said Harper was shot in retaliation for Joos' arrest in June 1994.

Joos was brought to jail by Harper and Steve Dorsey, a Highway Patrol sergeant, to serve a six-month sentence assessed in 1986 when he was convicted by another jury on a misdemeanor count of passing a false restraining order.

Schlessman said the false restraining order, the filings of liens against properties and orders handed down by ``common courts'' are methods used by anti-government activists to harass public officials. Joos' 1986 false order purportedly told Merle Graham, highway patrolman, not to arrest a man to whom Graham had issued a ticket for driving without a license.

Joos' appeal of the conviction was turned down in 1987. When deputies went to Joos' eastern McDonald County farm to arrest him, he bolted into the woods.

Schlessman said: ``It was getting dark and raining. We didn't go out and search for him because we figured he would be in and out.''

Highway patrolmen kept Joos' farm under surveillance in June 1994, when they heard he was back in the area. Dorsey testified at Joos' trial that when patrolmen moved in to arrest Joos, he scuffled with the officers and had a pistol concealed in his van.

From June to December 1994, Joos served the six-month sentence on the 1986 conviction. When that sentence was finished, he remained in jail awaiting trial on the charges stemming from his arrest.

Last year, a judge gave Joos the opportunity to plead guilty to the charges and be set free, with credit for time served. Joos said he would rather go to trial and prove his innocence. He chose to stay in jail.

On Friday, he was sentenced to 33 months in prison on the weapons charge and one year in the county jail on the charge of resisting arrest, and was given credit for time already served.

Harper died in 1995 of a heart attack unrelated to the shooting. Lawmen continue to search for Coombs.

Meanwhile, Joos' longtime girlfriend, Annie Ames, 46, was arrested in March in Arkansas on charges of resisting arrest and unlawful use of a weapon. She was indicted last year by a county grand jury. She was being held Friday in lieu of $2,500 bond.

Page 1A, Saturday, April 5, 1997