Thursday, August 12, 2010

"Sovereign Citizens" Continue On Home-Snatching Binge By Using Phony Deeds To Snag Property Titles; Actions Characteristic Of Domestic Terrorist Group

In Augusta, Georgia, The Augusta Chronicle reports:
  • "Richard-Terence: Jenkins" appeared to be a man of means, with deeds in his name to six Augusta houses and a seventh in Snellville, Ga., all notarized and on file with the clerk of Superior Court. He also had a mailing address at a house in Hephzibah and a car tag specifying "diplomatic corps."

  • The houses -- Jenkins doesn't actually own them -- were toward the low end of a portfolio being assembled by nine "sovereign citizens" now wanted on federal racketeering charges out of DeKalb County. While his actions seemed merely strange to Augusta Realtors, whose listings Jenkins deeded to himself for "one silver dollar," they're actually characteristic of a domestic terrorist group beginning to gain ground in Georgia.

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  • Members of the group wanted in DeKalb were found actually moving into higher-valued homes around Atlanta after having the locks changed and utilities switched on.

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  • At least 100,000 Americans consider themselves "sovereign citizens" and actively practice a bizarre set of behaviors, including adding punctuation marks to their names, said lawyer Mark Potok, spokesman for the Southern Poverty Law Center. Jenkins, for example, added the colon and hyphen to his name. Sovereigns believe the U.S. government established by the Constitution was replaced during a secret, treasonous takeover, according to an article in the center's upcoming Intelligence Report.

For more, see 'Sovereignty' basis for area racketeering (Group doesn't obey statutory laws).