BULLETIN: Ronald James Davenport, Purported ‘Sovereign Citizen,’ Sentenced To 41 Months In Federal Prison After Filing ‘False Liens’ Against Public Officials And Trying To Attach Their Real Estate and Personal Property
BULLETIN: Ronald James Davenport, the Washington state “sovereign citizen” convicted in November 2011 of filing false liens for billions of dollars against four public officials, has been sentenced to 41 months in federal prison, the Justice Department said today.
Davenport was convicted of the false-liens charges during the same month AdSurfDaily figure and purported Washington state “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming was accused in a separate case of filing bogus liens against five public officials involved in the ASD Ponzi case brought by the U.S. Secret Service in August 2008.
Leaming’s targets included a federal judge and three federal prosecutors in the District of Columbia and a special agent of the U.S. Secret Service, according to court filings.
Davenport, described by prosecutors as a tax defier, targeted the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, an assistant U.S. Attorney, an IRS agent and a court clerk with false liens, prosecutors said.
“The liens were filed in the county auditor records of Spokane and Whatcom Counties, Wash,” prosecutors said. “Each lien claimed that the victim owed Davenport $5,184,000,000. It also purported to attach all of the victim’s real and personal property as security for this debt. As proved at trial, the defendant chose these four victims because of their involvement in an effort to collect from Davenport more than $250,000 in back taxes.”
U.S. District Judge Garr M. King of Oregon sat in special designation in the Davenport case because the Washington state federal judiciary recused itself, prosecutors said.
The Justice Department’s Tax Division and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) prosecuted the case because the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Eastern Washington also recused itself, the Justice Department said.
