thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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 Posted: Sat Jun 09, 2007 7:59 pm Post subject: Pay taxes, or... |
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Feds say no raid on N.H. tax evaders
By Philip Elliott, Associated Press Writer | June 7, 2007
PLAINFIELD, N.H. --Federal authorities indicated Thursday they would not raid the home of two convicted tax evaders but did serve a warrant to seize property they own in a neighboring town.
The warrant was served in Lebanon and authorities had no contact with Ed and Elaine Brown at their fortified hilltop compound in rural Plainfield, U.S. Marshal Stephen Monier said.
Neighbors had reported heavily armed police and at least one armored vehicle near the 110-acre property Thursday morning. Reporters were kept away from the scene and a plane carrying an Associated Press photographer was ordered out of the airspace.
"We are here ... to serve that warrant," Monier said in a statement to calm speculation that a raid was imminent.
Marshals have negotiated daily with the Browns since January and will continue doing so, Monier said.
"As we have said from the beginning, we will continue to communicate with Ed and Elaine Brown to convince them to surrender peacefully."
A supporter walking the couple's dog stumbled on authorities this morning Plainfield and was detained. Monier said authorities watch the property from time to time.
"Periodically we need to take a gander" he said.
He said the show of force on Thursday in Plainfield was because of threats Ed Brown made previously.
"You know Ed Brown has made a number of statements. We needed to know where he was. We needed to know where his supporters were."
"We have no wish to have a violent encounter with either one of them," Monier said.
Authorities did detain a supporter staying with the couple as he walked their dog Thursday morning.
The home has a watchtower, concrete walls and the ability to run on wind and solar power. Ed Brown, who has at least one gun, has said he has stockpiled food and supplies and would resist arrest.
Authorities clearly were prepared for the worst Thursday. Vehicles leaving a checkpoint early in the afternoon included an armored Massachusetts SWAT vehicle, an explosive disposal unit, a communications truck and a New Hampshire state police cruiser driven by someone with camouflage face paint.
Two planes flew overhead and the occupants of two passenger vans hid their faces as they drove past.
The Browns insist federal income tax laws are invalid and stopped attending their trial partway through. They were convicted in January of scheming to hide $1.9 million of income between 1996 and 2003. They also were convicted of using $215,890 in postal money orders to pay for their residence and for Elaine Brown's dental office in neighboring Lebanon, the property seized Thursday. The money orders were broken into increments just below the tax-reporting threshold.
U.S. District Judge Steven McAuliffe sentenced them each to 5 1/4 years in prison. They skipped the April 24 sentencing hearings that ordered them to being serving time immediately.
The couple has described the court as a "fiction" unworthy of their attention and returned government mail unopened.
Ed Brown said nothing was out of the ordinary at the house, then hung up. But he told a different story earlier to a supporter, who recorded it and posted some of it online.
"It could be a test to see our response time, our reaction," he said.
Calls made later Thursday were answered by a recording saying the line was not in service.
"Our phone has been cut off, our Internet has been cut off, and our cell phone has been cut off," Elaine Brown, talking on a reporter's cell phone during a call-in show on Republic Broadcasting Network, said on Thursday afternoon. "We are basically without communication."
Supporters have visited and stayed with the Browns during and after their trial.
The Marshals Service said the dog-walker, whose name was not immediately released, was being questioned but had not been charged. But Monier made it clear that anyone helping the Browns avoid authorities could be charged.
"Anyone aiding and abetting in their obstruction of justice is subject to arrest," he said. |
www.boston.com
I've been following this story for a few months. Ed Brown has balls. And apparently he is armed to the teeth (this article says he has one gun but I understand that to be per-room) and will defend his property from anyone who trespasses. |
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