It appears to have taken less than five months for a purported “sovereign citizen” to begin a harassment campaign against Jacob J. Lew, who became U.S. Treasury Secretary after being confirmed by the Senate on Feb. 27, 2013.
Alabama authorities say they’ve arrested Mary Whiteside Quillen, 65, of Weaver. She is accused of recording “several frivolous documents, on July 23, against government officials in a lien.”
Lew was “specifically named in one document,” the office of Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin said.
The crime is a felony, the sheriff’s office said.
“These types of false recordings have the potential to ruin public officials’ lives,” said Entrekin. “We will not allow this to happen in Etowah County and will prosecute these individuals to the fullest extent of the law.”
Bond for Quillen was set at $100,000 cash, officials said.
From a statement by Entrekin’s office (italics added):
A similar incident took place in June with the arrests of Everett Leon Stout, 71, of St. Clair County, and Miriam Clare Shultz, 66, of Marshall County. Stout and Shultz were each charged with two counts of offering a false instrument for record. Stout and Shultz recorded false documents against a circuit clerk, municipal prosecutor, federal judge and federal probation officer.
“These individuals’ actions align with the ideology and beliefs of sovereign citizens,” says Sheriff Entrekin. “Sovereign citizens believe that both state and federal government entities are unlawful.”
When these individuals, who claim to be sovereign citizens, come into contact with local law enforcement they often are driving without state-required licenses, either for their vehicles or themselves. Members of the group also inundate public officials, including local law enforcement officers, with frivolous liens, false claims and sometimes threats of violence.”
Entrekin’s office recommends website visitors to read this report from the FBI.
Assisting in the Etowah County probe were the U.S. Marshal’s Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force and the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, the sheriff’s office said.
