BULLETIN: Timothy Shawn Donavan, one of two federal fugitives from Arkansas found in Washington state Nov. 22 with AdSurfDaily figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming, is back in jail.
Separately, records show that Leaming’s Washington state firm was the registered agent for two defunct companies linked to the alleged Donavan mail-fraud scheme and that Leaming himself — using the name “Kenneth Wayne” and dropping his surname — was an officer in the companies.
U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes III revoked Donavan’s bond after Donavan, 63, refused to be sworn at a court proceeding in Arkansas earlier this month in violation of a bond condition that required him to cooperate at pretrial hearings in the mail-fraud case filed against Donavan in February 2011.
Meanwhile, Donavan’s co-defendant in the mail-fraud case, Sharon Jeannette Henningsen, also is listed as back in federal custody. The circumstances surrounding her renewed detention were not immediately clear.
Henningsen, 67, also was found with Leaming in the Pacific Northwest, federal prosecutors said in November. Donavan and Henningsen were participants in an Arkansas-based fraud involving envelope-stuffing, according to an indictment filed in February 2011.
Donavan and Henningsen were freed on conditional bond several days after their arrests in Washington state. They returned to Arkansas, and trouble begun anew in very short order, according to court records.
In the order revoking Donavan’s bond, Holmes said that Donavan “continues to insist, as he has in past proceedings, on repeating incomprehensible legal jargon in response to any question the Court posits, instead of cooperating with Court proceedings and responding appropriately to questions asked. Donavan ultimately refused to either swear or affirm to tell the truth during the proceedings.”
The judge warned Donavan that he’d be taken into custody by U.S. Marshals if he refused to cooperate, according to the order revoking bond.
On Jan. 23, Holmes ordered Donavan to be transported to a Bureau of Prisons medical facility in Texas, according to records.
On Dec. 28, Donavan and Henningsen filed a strange pleading styled “NOTICE of Tender for Setoff and a Request Regarding a Statement of Account by Sharon Jeannette Henningsen and Timothy Shawn Donavan.”
The Dec. 28 pleading was filed on the heels of other strange pleadings, including one styled,”Notice: Forgive Me Request; Constructive Notice of Conditional Acceptance and Request to Continue Public Proceedings.”
Although Donavan and Henningsen had been scheduled to go on trial Jan. 19, the trial date has been canceled — and prosecutors have filed a superseding indictment against both defendants that adds at least four mail-fraud-related counts to the 15 originally filed 11 months ago.
In the new allegations, federal prosecutors referenced two defunct Washington state companies — 1st Incentive Co. and Trail Head Options Inc. — allegedly tied to the Arkansas fraud of Donavan and Henningsen.
Both firms, according to records in Washington state, listed Leaming’s firm — American International Business Law Inc. — as their registered agent. Leaming, who sometimes drops his surname and uses simply “Kenneth Wayne,” is listed as an officer of both companies.
Prosecutors said the Donavan/Henningsen mail-fraud scheme netted more than $2.2 million.
Leaming, 56, of Spanaway, Wash., was arrested in November on charges of filing bogus liens against at least five public officials involved in the ASD case. The U.S. Secret Service said ASD was a Florida-based Ponzi scheme that gathered at least $110 million.
ASD President Andy Bowdoin, 77, was charged with wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities in 2010.
Some ASD members reportedly relied on Leaming for legal advice, even though he is not an attorney. Whether Dovavan and Henningsen did the same thing is unclear. Also unclear is whether they were ASD members.
Leaming is jailed near Seattle. He is not named a defendant in the Arkansas case, but the indictment refers to at least one “unindicted co-conspirator.”
