PatrickPretty.com

Day: February 3, 2012

  • UPDATE: Kenneth Wayne Leaming Pleads Not Guilty At Arraignment On New Federal Charges; AdSurfDaily Figure And Purported ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Sent Back To Jail After Proceeding; Trial Date Set Next Month

    Kenneth Wayne Leaming

    AdSurfDaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming has pleaded not guilty to all six felony counts contained in a grand-jury indictment returned Jan. 26.

    U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen L. Strombom presided over Leaming’s arraignment at 1:30 p.m. PT in Tacoma, Wash.

    Leaming, 56, of Spanaway, Wash., remained in federal custody after the proceeding. His trial date on three counts of Retaliating Against a Federal Judge or Law Enforcement Office by False Claim and single counts of Concealing a Person from Arrest , Felon in Possession of a Firearm and False and Fictitious Instruments was set for March 20.

    Leaming has been detained near Seattle since his initial arrest in November 2011. Prosecutors said he was found with two federal fugitives from Arkansas and at least six weapons. The fugitives — Timothy Shawn Donavan, 63, and Sharon Jeannette Henningsen, 67 — now are listed as federal inmates at facilities in Texas.

    Donavan and Henningsen initially were freed on bond several days after their arrests with Leaming in Washingston state. After returning to Arkansas, trouble soon followed, and they were ordered back into federal custody for violating bond conditions.

    Leaming, who has a 2005 felony conviction for piloting an aircraft without a valid pilot’s certificate, is accused of filing false liens against several public officials, including at least five officials involved in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi case.

    He initially was detained in November on the false-liens charges. A grand jury later added the firearms charge, the concealment charge related to Donavan and Henningsen and the charge of false and fictitious instruments. That charge stemmed from the alleged issuance by Leaming of a bogus “bonded promissory note” with a purported face value of $1 million, according to the indictment.

  • Purported Texas ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Who Issued ‘Deadly Force’ Threat To Court And Later Had Shootout With Police Officer Sentenced To 35 Years In State Prison, Prosecutors Say

    “It’s okay to have beliefs, but you don’t commit crimes in the name of those beliefs. You don’t get to pull a gun on a police officer over a traffic ticket.” — Jim Hudson, Tarrant County prosecutor,” Feb. 1, 2012

    James Michael Tesi. Source: Office of Tarrant County District Attorney Joe Shannon Jr.

    In December 2010, purported “sovereign citizen” James Michael Tesi received two traffic tickets in the Dallas/Ft. Worth-area community of Colleyville, Texas.

    Tesi, 49, was speeding — and he had no driver’s license, Tarrant County prosecutors said.

    A court date was set two months later, but Tesi did not show up. A municipal judge issued an arrest warrant, prosecutors said.

    After missing his court date, Tesi “sent a legal-sounding document to the municipal court threatening ‘deadly force’ if anyone tried to arrest him on his property,” prosecutors said.

    On July 21, 2011, prosecutors said, a Colleyville police officer observed Tesi driving and tried to pull him over.

    Tesi, though, did not stop. Instead, he drove to his residence in Hurst and pulled into his garage, prosecutors said.

    The officer walked up Tesi’s driveway with his gun drawn and observed that Tesi had a handgun, prosecutors said.

    A shootout in which 15 shots were fired ensued. Tesi was hit twice, but survived with wounds to the face and leg. The officer was not hit, prosecutors said.

    Inside Tesi’s vehicle, police found a Tesi “affidavit” that “warned any officer who attempted to stop him that they had no jurisdiction over him and could face prosecution for harassing him,” prosecutors said.

    Tesi ultimately was charged under Texas law with aggravated assault of a public servant with a deadly weapon.

    The jury found him guilty on Tuesday, after deliberating for about two and a half hours. The penalty phase then began. On Wednesday, after less than two hours of deliberations, the jury sentenced Tesi to 35 years in state prison.