ffi

Matt Blunt James F. Keathley

Govefior Colonel, MSHP

Mark S. James Van Godsey

Director. DPS Directot, MIAC

MlAC ALERT - Constitution Rangers

June 7' 2OO7

Current Developments

Federal authorities indicated loday (June 7, 2007) that they wiil noi raid the home of lwo convicled lax
evaders bul would serye a watranl. Dozens 01 heavily armed state poiice and iederal agents have as-
sembled near the rural New Hampshire home ol tax proleslers Ed and Elaine Brown. The U S. Marshals
Seruice issued a briet statemenl atter neighbors reporied armed police and at least one armored vehicie
near Ed and Elaine Brown's tortiJied compound eariy this morning. "We are here, in conjunction with au_
thorities, from the Department oi the Treasury, to serve thal warant," the statement said. "As we have
said Jrom the beginning, we will continue 10 communicale with Ed and Elaine Brown io convince them io
surrerder oeacel-lly "

Aboul 50 slale toopers, some armed wilh high-powered riiles, along with a vehicle trom the explosjves
!nit gathered this morning in Piainlield, a smalJ lown wbere Edward and Elaine Brown have holed up in
lheir home since being convicled oi tax evasion and senlenced to lengthy federal prison terms. The
Browns insisl tederal income lax laws are invalid and have holed up in thejr hilltop home on 1 10 acres in
Plainlield, which has a watchtower, concrele walls and the ability 10 r!n on wind and solar power' Brown
said he ha5 stockpiled food and supplies.

Ed and Elaine Brown are members ot the "Conslitulion Rangers," a group thal ascribes to the ideojogy ol
the "Sovereign Citizen." The "Sovereign Citizen" movemenl is an anli-governmenl philosophy that mani-
iesls itsell in conspiratorial, pseudohislorical, pseudolegai, and sometimes racisl language- While many
groups over the years have opposed governmenlal policies, lew have been so purely anti governmenl
thal they challenged its very legitimacy.

Origins

N,4any of the groups aclive loday have their root in the phiLosophy ol the old Posse Comilatus organiza-
tion, which arose on the West Coasl as a lax protesl movemenl in the 1970s. Posse lollowers, and thei
curreni descendants, "believe that in the distanl pasl every cilizen was a 'sovereign' ciiizen and thal ihere
used to be a utopian governmenl (the de jure government) which was subverted thro!gh conspiracy and
 replaced by our tyrannical governmenl (lhe de faclo government). Ihis is their iustitjcalion fol their beliels

Altho!qh they claim to respeci the county as the highesl level ol legitimale governmenl and the county
sherifi as the highesl authority, they aiso believe that law enlorcemenl should nol eniorce any laws ihal "
the people" (1.e., those willr the Posse philosophy) do nol wanl them to enJorce. Posse-like thinkers have
'a iascination wjth hidden hjstory. They wanl 10 uncover i1, reveal it, they want to iind old iaws of the de
jure governmenl so they can go back 10 it."

Members ol the right'wing extremist miliUa and soverelgn cilizen movemenl engage in a variety of crimi-
nal acls, mainly direcled al governmenl oificials, whom they ty to iniimidate and harass by tactics ranging
from ihreats oi violence to imposing commercia liens on their propedy and other nuisance actions Au_
thorities in Missouri have been the targets ol such harassment-

Militia and sovereign citizen hatred of laws and regulattons

leads to thejr lrequenl involvement jn Jederal lirearms and

ilfi
explosives vrolatrons; redemption schemes; and the use o1

E MF.
fake license plates, driver's licenses, and documents thal
ialsely clajm diplomatic and law entorcement privjleges (see
photos lor examples). Some oi these false documents are
NF 3tr m $ftI}T
used to atlempl to bypass airpofr security in order 10 board
US domestic flights and enler government tacilities.

The Posse Comitat!s was strongest in tbe'80s, ihen started '"'- I;lrryLl ** l'--
to die oul as its leaderc died violently or ot oid age or were
pul in prison. But the ideology hasn't dled. it is alive and con'
tinues to thrive.

Constilution Rangers

N4embers ol the US Constitution Bangers (USCR) have

shown themselves particularly willing to engage in crimina activity
USCR members talsely beljeve that they have law enforcemenl powers and
thattheyare'constiluiionalprolectors"responsibleior'policingtheofficesoipublictrust." Tosupportihis
beliel they olten wear fake sheriff's badges and place USCF banners on the sides of their vehicles to give
the appearance of being gen!ine law entorcement officers. No single commander controls ihe USCR as
members operale independently. FBI and other law eniorcement repofiing indicate that members are
concentraled in Arkansas, Colorado, idaho, Michigan, lMissouri, the New England area, and Washington
lndividual members of the USCR have committed n!merous criminal acts, including most recently:

. ln April 2007 Edward Lewis Brown, a USCR leadel, was senlenced to 63 months ir prison aiter previ
ously being iound guilty ol conspiring to defraud the tederal governmenl and other crimes Brown was
nol in coun Jor the sentencing as he had stopped attending his trial mohths earlier and barricaded himsel{
in his Plainfield, New Hampshire home. He remains there and the ongoing publicily has caused
members oJ the anti-government extremist community 10 ralJy to his cause (this is the indivjdual men-
tjoned in the jirct paragraph).

. in Febr!ary 2007 associates of a USCR member on trial lor a lelony charge of impersonating a law en-
Jorcement olficer attempled to intimidate an Arkansas State Police trooper during the coud hearing. Three
days laler one of the associates filed an alljdavit in which he threatened the life of the same stale trooper'