Monty Ervin, the self-styled “sovereign citizen” who declared himself “governor” of Alabama in its “original jurisdiction” and a “Most Christian Prince,” has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for his role in scheme that masked the ownership of real estate by placing it in the names of bogus trusts and relied on structured transactions to evade currency-reporting requirements.
Meanwhile, Ervin’s wife — Patricia Ervin — has been placed on probation for five years and ordered to spend “40 consecutive weekends” in jail for her role in the bizarre scheme.
Things could have gone worse for Patricia Ervin, who’d been convicted of conspiracy, tax evasion and structuring. But a judge found that “Monty Ervin was the leader and organizer of the conspiracy and exercised control” over his wife.
Patricia Ervin, according to court filings, once declared herself a “Most Christian Princess” who’d been “certified” by Prince George, whom she described as the “Arch Treasurer” for “The United States of America” in the “Treaty of Paris of 1783.”
Both Patricia Ervin and her husband “proclaimed that they were not United States citizens, and as ‘sovereigns,’ did not consider themselves subject to federal or state law,” federal prosecutors said.
After his February 2011 indictment in Alabama, Monty Ervin went on the lam to Florida’s West Coast. The U.S. Marshals Service captured him in the area of Naples.
Ervin was found with “a notebook containing the latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates of an island off the coast of Honduras,” prosecutors said.
So-called “sovereign citizens” have an irrational belief that laws do not apply to them. “Sovereigns” have been known to draft both knowing and unknowing others into their schemes, thus potentially placing individuals within their sphere of influence at risk of becoming victims or even defendants with both civil and criminal exposure.
