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Tag: Chief Justice John Roberts

  • BULLETIN: Prosecution Seeks Final Forfeiture Of Guns, Badges, ‘Client’ Files And Digital Devices Of AdSurfDaily Figure And Purported ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Kenneth Wayne Leaming

    Kenneth Wayne Leaming
    Kenneth Wayne Leaming

    BULLETIN: Federal prosecutors in the Western District of Washington have asked a federal judge to issue a final order of forfeiture against the property of AdSurfDaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming.

    Leaming has agreed to forfeit the property, and a preliminary order of forfeiture already has been entered, according to prosecution filings.

    The property includes six firearms, bogus law-enforcement badges and other false credentials, light bars, crime-scene tape, vests, handcuffs and nightsticks. It also includes documents related to Leaming’s “performance of legal services for third parties,” including “‘client’ files, counterfeit instruments, and similar materials,” prosecutors said.

    At the same time, prosecutors are seeking the final forfeiture of “All digital devices, including computers, external hard drives, and other storage media” linked to Leaming

    Leaming, 57, of Spanaway, Wash., is serving an eight-year prison sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Terre Haute, Ind. He was sentenced in May 2013 on charges of filing false liens against government officials involved in the prosecution of the $119 million AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme, harboring federal fugitives from a separate scheme and being a felon in possession of firearms. His previous felony conviction was for piloting an aircraft without being licensed.

    Leaming was arrested by an FBI Terrorism Task Force in November 2011, after he filed false liens against the officials. Agents also uncovered evidence that suggested Leaming intended to serve a writ on U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts by monitoring the school his children attended. Roberts presides over the U.S. Supreme Court and is America’s top judicial officer.

    Precisely how many ASD clients Leaming had is unknown. In 2010, Leaming promoted himself as an attorney on the website of Cornell University Law School, advertising a fee structure and saying he practiced “Admiralty/Maritime, Business Law, Estate Planning and Native American Law.” Cornell removed the listing after the PP Blog reported that Leaming was accused in Washington state in 2005 of engaging in the unauthorized practice of law.

    In 2009, Leaming filed involuntary bankruptcy petitions against the Washington State Bar Association and a Franciscan healthcare facility in the state. (Among Leaming’s assertions was that the bar association owed him $32 billion. Through a notary public in a different venue, Leaming earlier had asserted that the hospital owed him $9.24 billion. In short, Leaming sought to attach “all tangible and intangible property” of the hospital, including its fixtures, furnishings, motor vehicles, bank accounts, passbooks, saving certificates, stock certificates, lines of credit, inventories, promissory notes, office equipment, educational equipment — and even its mineral and water rights, according to records. The hospital serves several communities in Pierce County, including Lakewood, Spanaway, Steilacoom, DuPont, University Place and others.)

    Judges tossed the preposterous claims, and a federal bankruptcy judge ordered sanctions against Leaming.

    In October 2011, the PP Blog reported that a Leaming-associated company — American-International Business Law Inc. — was listed in records as the registered agent of at least 73 companies. One of the firms was known as “Presidential Detail.” Another was known as “Homeland Security Service.” Two others were known as “Federal Asset Management Service” and “Federal Fleet Management.”

    At least two other Leaming-connected firms used the names of the famous JP Morgan banking concern.

    “Sovereign citizens” are known to engage in what has been described as “paper terrorism” against the government and its officials, banks and litigation opponents. Earlier this year, Leaming asserted the judge presiding over his criminal charges in the liens, harboring and firearms case owed him 208,000 ounces of “fine silver.”

    NOTE: Our thanks to the ASDUpdates Blog.

  • URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: AdSurfDaily Figure And Purported ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Kenneth Wayne Leaming Sentenced To 8 Years In Federal Prison

    Kenneth Wayne Leaming
    Kenneth Wayne Leaming

    URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (UPDATED 10:55 P.M. EDT U.S.A.) AdSurfDaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison. His former business associate and fellow purported “sovereign” David Carroll Stephenson has been sentenced to 10 years.

    Stephenson already was serving prison time for a tax scam.

    “These defendants tried to mask their crimes with the cloak of free speech and beliefs,” said U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan of the Western District of Washington. “They thought they were immune from the law or the justice system, but now their frauds aimed at taxpayers and public servants need to come to an end. A lengthy prison term is the best way to protect the public from their schemes.”

    Stephenson, Durkan’s office said, received a sentence longer than the recommended guidelines.

    U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton said that Stephenson “cannot, will not live his life without doing harm to others,” prosecutors said. “He is the master manipulator, the puppeteer . . . He is in my mind a very dangerous man.”

    Leaming, the judge said, flaunts authority and “harasses law abiding people who have an obligation to the people to serve,” according to prosecutors.

    Leaming, like Stephenson, is 57. Although it never was clear whether Leaming was a member of the $119 million ASD Ponzi scheme broken up by the U.S. Secret Service in 2008, it became crystal clear that he was trying to derail the prosecution by filing bogus liens against public officials involved in the ASD case and had worked with Stephenson to file fraudulent liens against two U.S. prison officials.

    Prosecutors had asked for Leaming to be sentenced to 10 years.

    When the FBI executed search warrants at Leaming’s Spanaway home in November 2011, they found six firearms — this despite the fact Leaming was a convicted felon banned from possessing guns. Leaming previously has been convicted of piloting an aircraft without a license.

    One of the weapons Leaming possessed was described by prosecutors as a “street sweeper” style shotgun. He also had an “assault rifle,” according to prosecutors.

    Leaming also was found to be harboring two federal fugitives from Arkansas wanted in a home-business caper separate from ASD.

    During his criminal trial, Leaming was channeling deceased cop-killer Christopher Dorner in a veiled bid to intimidate law enforcement, prosecutors said. Dorner is the former member of the Los Angeles Police Department who promised warfare against cops in February. The Dorner story stunned the nation.

    Leaming, according to the FBI, also has a history that includes discussing a plot by which he’d serve U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts with a purported writ at a school attended by Roberts’ young children.

    From a statement by Durkan’s office tonight (italics added):

    The men (Stephenson and Leaming) identify themselves as members of the ‘Sovereign Citizen’ movement. ‘Sovereign Citizens’ profess a belief that both state and federal government entities are illegitimate. Members of this group often engaged in so-called “freedom driving,” i.e., driving about without state-required licenses, either for their vehicles or themselves. When contacted by local law enforcement, members of the group often bombard local officials (from the officer, to local judges, to mayors and other members of local government) with frivolous liens, false claims, and sometimes threats of violence. Many members of this same group had previously come to the attention of federal law enforcement for engaging in various fraudulent tax schemes, wire fraud schemes, and (occasionally) inappropriate communications with various members of federal law enforcement and the judiciary.

    In asking for a ten year sentence for both men, prosecutors wrote to the court that only a long prison term would protect the public. About STEPHENSON they wrote, “This is not the case of a defendant who continues to run afoul of the law because of a substance abuse addiction or a history of childhood abuse. Rather, this is a defendant who simply chooses to remain defiant, despite court after court telling him that he must stop, and despite multiple stints in prison. At this point, removal from society is the only way in which the public can be kept safe from the defendant’s crimes.”

    As for LEAMING, prosecutors provided information to the court about his repeatedly holding himself out to victims as a lawyer who could solve their problems, when in fact his actions may have damaged their case. About the crimes from the March 2013 conviction prosecutors wrote: “Defendant’s possession of firearms is particularly disturbing in light of several facts. First is obviously his disdain for government. Second is his possession of various items of police equipment, including numerous badges, light bars, and a Crown Victoria sedan modified to appear to be a police vehicle. Last but not least is Defendant’s repeated invocation of the shooting of government officials in Southern California by a disgruntled former police officer – which again appeared to be a veiled threat to engage in violence himself if he is prevented from pursuing his “‘petitions for redress,’” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo.

  • URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: AdSurfDaily Figure and Purported ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Kenneth Wayne Leaming Facing New Federal Felony Charges

    Leaming

    UPDATED 1:33 P.M. ET WITH LINK TO INDICTMENT: AdSurfDaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming is facing new federal-felony charges.

    Leaming, 56, originally was arrested in November 2011 by an FBI terrorism task force on charges of filing false liens against at least five public officials involved in the ASD Ponzi scheme case.

    Prosecutors now say he faces charges in addition to the ones originally filed and will be arraigned on the charges tomorrow in Tacoma, Wash.

    Among the new charges are concealing a person from arrest, being a felon in possession of a firearm and using a false and fictitious instrument, the office of U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan of the Western District of Washington said.

    Leaming is among at least six purported “sovereign citizens” recently charged or convicted of crimes in the western section of the state.

    Timothy Garrison, 60, of Mount Vernon, Wash., was sentenced yesterday to 42 months in federal prison for a tax scam that cost the U.S. government more than $2.5 million.

    Like Leaming, Garrison’s activities included filing false liens. He also made “threats to ‘arrest’ law enforcement officers,” prosecutors said.

    “No one is above the law,” Durkan said. “[Garrison’s] scheme now creates a hardship for those who put their trust in Mr. Garrison – they have big tax bills to pay. His further abuse of the legal system with fraudulent liens and so-called ‘arrest warrants,’ is a dangerous mix for our law enforcement officers who are trying to keep our communities safe.”

    A convicted felon prior to the charges for which he was sentenced yesterday, Garrison assisted in the filing of more than 50 returns with false or fraudulent information, prosecutors said.

    When Leaming was arrested in November, he was found with two federal fugitives from Arkansas, along with firearms, prosecutors said.

    UPDATE AT 1:33 P.M. ET. Here is a link to the indictment, which also names alleged Leaming associate David Carroll Stephenson in a count of retaliating against a federal judge or federal law-enforcement officer. Stephenson currently is serving time in an Arizona federal prison in an earlier case, and prosecutors said he’ll be brought to Washington state on the new retaliation charge against him.  He is referenced in this November 2010 PP Blog story on a Leaming email sent to ASD members. Stephenson also is referenced in this November 2011 Leaming story about certain communications allegedly directed at U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts at the behest of Stephenson.

    The indictment describes the weapons allegedly found with Leaming and describes the fugitives by their initials. The PP Blog previously confirmed that the fugitives were Timothy Shawn Donavan and Sharon Jeannette Henningsen, who were wanted in an alleged mail-fraud caper involving envelope stuffing in Arkansas.

  • ‘Sovereign Citizen’ David Myrland Sentenced To Federal Prison For Threats; U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan Lauds Mayor, City Officials Of Kirkland, Wash., For Courage During Sustained Intimidation Campaign

    EDITOR’S NOTE: If Kirkland’s name sounds familiar to you — but you can’t quite place it — think about two of America’s great national pastimes: baseball and building things. Indeed, the city produced the 1982 Little League World Series champs, carding a thrilling win over a team from Taiwan, a youth-baseball powerhouse. Kirkland’s team became a source of tremendous U.S. pride, motivating the nation’s middle-schoolers to pursue excellence.

    The Kirkland team further was immortalized by legendary sportscaster Jim McKay in the “thrill of victory” clip on ABC’s “Wide World of Sports.” (The joyous “thrill of victory” clip featuring the Kirkland team was juxtaposed against the program’s signature “agony of defeat” clip showing ski-jumper Vinko Bogataj’s jarring ramp crash at a competition in West Germany in 1970.)

    Kirkland also is the home of Kenworth Truck Co., a renown nameplate whose parent firm, PACCAR, is a Fortune 500 company with 17,700 employees.  (Source: 2010 annual report.) PACCAR and its subsidiaries, including  Kenworth, create tens of thousands of ancillary jobs in the United States. In short, Kirkland is about excellence — and employment across America.

    That Kirkland, a city that motivated young people to pursue excellence and has contributed so much to U.S. commerce and the building/rebuilding of the vital infrastructure of the United States, was subjected to a series of ugly, life-altering incidents by the “sovereign citizen movement” should be a subject of great introspection for all Americans . . .

    “For too long Kirkland Mayor Joan McBride and other city officials have had to live with the specter of Mr. Myrland’s armed associates invading their homes. I applaud the courage of the mayor and her officers who appeared at the sentencing hearing today and described how this defendant’s selfish campaign of threats and quasi legal filings has altered their lives.” — U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan, Western District of Washington, Dec. 2, 2011

    Mayor Joan McBride

    UPDATED 2:03 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) David Russell Myrland, a Washington state “sovereign citizen” whose name is referenced in the criminal complaint filed Nov. 21 against AdSurfDaily figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming, has been sentenced to 40 months in federal prison for threatening the mayor of the Seattle suburb of Kirkland.

    But Mayor Joan McBride, according to federal prosecutors, was not the only target of Myrland’s sustained intimidation campaign, which began in April 2010 with a garden-variety traffic stop by police and evolved into a stupefying drama that will live in infamy.

    Myrland, 53, was pulled over for driving without a license plate. A police officer at the scene discovered he also had no driver’s license — though Myrland insisted it didn’t matter because “he was not subject to Washington State laws regarding driving,” federal prosecutors said.

    If Myrland were arrested, prosecutors said he insisted, Myrland would become “constitutionally authorized to come to the officer’s residence and ‘arrest’ the officer” — and would be permitted to use  “deadly force.”

    McBride received a letter from Myrland telling her that 50 “armed men and women” would appear at her home to arrest her, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported. The mayor, according to the Post-Intelligencer, was advised to facilitate her arrest by not locking her doors.

    “DO NOT RESIST as these Citizens will be heavily armed,” the letter read in part, according to the Post-Intelligencer.

    U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan applauded Kirkland Mayor Joan McBride and city officials for their courage in the face of threats from purported "sovereign citizens."

    “Our cherished right to free speech does not extend to the freedom to make threats against our public officials and law enforcement officers,” said U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan of the Western District of Washington.

    Other Kirkland officials also were threatened by Myrland, Durkan’s office said yesterday in a statement.

    In September 2010, Myrland “sent emails and placed calls” to Kirkland officials urging them to “keep their doors unlocked,” because they were going to be arrested and “should not resist,” prosecutors said.

    Myrland initially was arrested on state charges, but not even his arrest stopped the intimidation campaign. Federal prosecutors filed charges “after his associates continued to send letters to local officials referencing the use of ‘deadly force’ to apprehend a ‘fleeing felon’ such as Kirkland city leaders,” Durkan’s office said.

    During the probe, investigators linked Myrland to an “Assembly” of sovereign citizens with an “armed wing” known as the “County Rangers,” prosecutors said yesterday.

    Leaming has been linked to the same groups, the FBI said last month. Leaming, 55, of the Pierce County, Wash., community of Spanaway, is accused of filing bogus liens in Washington state against at least five public officials involved in the ASD Ponzi case in the District of Columbia — nearly 3,000 miles away.

    Among the allegations against Leaming is that he discussed a plan by which he’d serve U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts with a writ through the school his preteen children attend.

    U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez told Myrland at his sentencing yesterday that the law “applies to everyone,” as do “the consequences of breaking the law,” prosecutors said.

    Whether Myrland, who also was ordered to pay Kirkland $1,961 for “police overtime costs” because of his threats and will be placed on supervised probation for three years after his prison release, got the message is an open question.

    “He continues to this day to apparently believe that he was in the right, and everyone else is in the wrong,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo. “Despite his guilty plea, he continues to argue that he had a legal right to make the threats he made; that they were not legally threats; and that he was in the right in virtually every respect.”

    Leaming repeatedly violated his probation after an earlier arrest for piloting an airplane without a license, the FBI said last month.