Anti-Government Sovereign Citizens Taking Foreclosed Homes Using Phony Deeds, Authorities Say

[RamboLiberal]

Source: ABC News

Authorities in Georgia are joining forces to hunt down a burgeoning group of squatters who use anti-government ideology to commandeer bank-owned upscale homes with phony deeds and bogus paperwork.

Many are operating as so-called sovereign citizens -- radical-right conservatives who believe that they are exempt from government requirement such as taxes and driver's licenses.

Officials in DeKalb County have arrested five people they described as sovereign citizens, alleging they moved into foreclosed homes and filed phony quit-claim deeds in court, then posted them in the properties' windows as "proof" of their ownership. They are on the hunt for two more.

DeKalb Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney John Melvin said he believes the seven they've identified are connected with 17 seized properties across the state that were worth about $10 million. One property, he said, was a strip mall where the suspects charged rent.

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It's an interesting trend, Potok said, because the sovereign citizens have their roots in white supremacy. Melvin noted that all seven sovereign citizens his county is after are black and identify with the Moorish Nation, which Potok described as a black nationalist group "with very strong streak of sovereign beliefs."

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/georgia-battling-sovereign-citizens-squatting-foreclosed-homes/story?id=11445382

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On edit: Uh-oh, I have a funny feeling this particular group of "Sovreign citizens" may suddenly get Faux's attention.

[truthisfreedom]

1. Wow, that's creative.

Freakin' nut jobs.

[DJ13]

2. Sounds fair

The buyers are foreclosed on by financial companies that dont hold the note, then others come in and steal it from them.

Poetic justice.

[izquierdista]

3. Positively Russian

When "officials in DeKalb county" back off for fear of wandering into a bunch of well-armed gorili pointing Kalashnikovs at them, then we will have caught up with the Soviet Union.

[NC_Nurse]

4. Pretty bizarre movement if you read the whole article:

"People come into this movement for very different reasons," he said. "Many are real true believers. And in many ways those are the scariest of all, because they end up murdering cops."

As the last few years have given rise to a new crop of sovereign citizens -- the movement started in earnest in the 1970s -- so have the number of black Americans claiming they are exempt from government confines.

It's an interesting trend, Potok said, because the sovereign citizens have their roots in white supremacy. Melvin noted that all seven sovereign citizens his county is after are black and identify with the Moorish Nation, which Potok described as a black nationalist group "with very strong streak of sovereign beliefs."

"What was attractive, I think, to black groups I think was the idea of completely sovereignty: 'the white man can't mess with us,'" he said. But Shaykh Ra Saadi El, chief minister with the Atlanta-based Moorish Science Temple of America, denies the men and women caught up with area's sovereign citizen movement have anything to with his temple.

[ladywnch]

5. so does this mean that there *are* minorities in the teabag crowd?

.....radical-right conservatives who believe that they are exempt from government requirement such as taxes and driver's licenses. .........Melvin noted that all seven sovereign citizens his county is after are black and identify with the Moorish Nation, which Potok described as a black nationalist group "with very strong streak of sovereign beliefs."

[jberryhill]

8. "sovereign citizens" are well beyond teabaggery in the universe of the misled /nt

[ladywnch]

13. REALLY???!!!! ok, now I'm officially afraid!!!!!!! n/t

[activa8tr]

6. More right wing libertarian Teabagger lawbreakers, people who care only for

themselves at any cost.

Slime by any other name.

[EdinGA]

7. My son transported two of these clowns

He's a deputy with the Rockdale Sheriff's Office and brought two, (a husband and wife) to Rockdale from Dekalb to face additional charges. He said they were complete whackjobs, the things they were saying, as if anyone in their right mind would take them seriously.

[KT2000]

9. Seattle area too?

There have been squatters in upscale home around Seattle too. The legal fees and repairs after they are finally removed run into the thousands.
Haven't read if they are the "sovereign citizens" though.

[gratuitous]

10. Perhaps these "sovereign" citizens should be treated as such

Which is to say they are trying to conquer U.S. territory, which makes them enemy combatants. You may fire when ready, Mr. Gridley.

[quakerboy]

11. I say lets roll with it

They take over the property, they don't pay taxes due to their crazy ideas, the government gets to seize it, viola, affordable housing in nice neighborhoods.

[WhiteTara]

12. hmm. all the sovereign citizens I know

are white, 40s-50s something men.

[mysuzuki2]

14. One thing I don't understand

if they are sovereign, what are they a citizen of? Their own little nutjob nation?

[Heywood J]

15. It has to do with their inability to read and comprehend the Bill of Rights.

A bunch of shit about being able to draw checks on some "hidden" US government accounts that supposedly hold hundreds of thousands of dollars for each person.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/searchresults.html?q=%22sovereign+citizens%22&sitesearch=democraticunderground.com&sa=Search&domains=democraticunderground.com&client=pub-7805397860504090&forid=1&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&cof=GALT%3A%23008000%3BGL%3A1%3BDIV%3A%23336699%3BVLC%3A663399%3BAH%3Acenter%3BBGC%3AFFFFFF%3BLBGC%3A336699%3BALC%3A0000FF%3BLC%3A0000FF%3BT%3A000000%3BGFNT%3A0000FF%3BGIMP%3A0000FF%3BFORID%3A11&hl=en">link