By Beth Christian Broschart
The Parsons Advocate
PARSONS – The West Virginia Intelligence Fusion Center recently sponsored training for local law enforcement to learn more about sovereign citizens. The meeting came about at the request of a local West Virginia State Trooper who wanted to learn about this topic. Tucker County Prosecuting Attorney Ray LaMora III said he wanted to learn more because law enforcement had been dealing with dealing with sovereign citizens so much in the area.
LaMora said some folks claim sovereign citizens are just a nuisance.
“One of the things they wanted us to realize is that certainly, some of them are,” LaMora said. “But they wanted us to know some of them are very, very dangerous. The things that they will do, while not hurting someone physically include filing liens against judges, police officers and prosecutors who they have had run-ins with.”
LaMora said one of the things the West Virginia Intelligence Fusion Center is looking to stop ‘paper terrorism.’
“Sovereign citizens are filing liens against the property and they are filing bank reports in an attempt to destroy the credit of these people in hopes of changing their mind or make them nervous against filing charges or having interactions with sovereign citizens.”
He said sovereign citizens are filing these charges and illegally destroying law enforcement personnel’s credit in the hopes next time law enforcement will just leave them alone.
“They also talked about the physical violence,” LaMora said. “The West Memphis Police Department lost two of their officers in 2010 when they had a run-in with the sovereign citizens,” LaMora said. “We had a moment where the police chief, the father of one of the officers killed that day, explained some of the issues they were dealing with.”
LaMora said one of the officers was distracted when the sovereign citizen came up and handed him materials and distracted them, when the second sovereign citizen came out with an assault rifle and killed them.
“It was moving to listen to this,” LaMora said. “It also helped the officers in the training because they need to make sure they do not get distracted with someone throwing paperwork at them. For a lot of our officers, they are well-trained and know what they are doing, but it doesn’t take much to be distracted when another one is throwing legal paperwork in your face and attempting to make them think you are above the law.”
LaMora said they learned that sovereign citizens have very professional looking license plates that say they are out of ‘the Kingdom of Heaven.’
“A lot of bumper stickers on their vehicles claim they are outside of the law and say they don’t have to follow the rules,” LaMora said. “Driver’s licenses are printed professionally but the information is not correct. For the state, it will claim ‘the Kingdom of Heaven’ and things will be above and below their signature.”
LaMora said the training also included information about an ongoing investigation with Thomas David Deegan, who allegedly attempted to overthrow the state government.
“He has had numerous run-ins with the law prior to this,” LaMora said. “It was interesting because during a hostage situation, Deegan only wanted to talk to the Wood County Sheriff because he was the only elected law enforcement official. Since he is elected by the people, he is the only official sovereign citizens trust.”
LaMora said his description of a sovereign citizen or a free man is ‘someone who doesn’t feel the rules apply to them.’
“Some of it can be as minor as I don’t think the speed limit applies to me,” LaMora said. “That isn’t a big deal if you are doing 26 in a 25 mile per hour zone, but if you are going 95 mph in a 25 mph zone…they don’t feel they should be stopped for these crimes.”
LaMora said the Wood County Sheriff said when he spoke with a sovereign citizen, he asked them why if they would hit and kill someone with their vehicle, the laws did not apply to them.
“The sovereign citizen said if he hurt somebody, there is a group of sovereigns that would basically try him and determine what kind of damages he owes to that family,” LaMora said. “It’s an odd mentality. I understand there are some people who disagree with the government and taxes, but simply declaring yourself as no longer a citizen of the U.S. while still living here…you are still subject to the law and the rules and regulations have handed down.”
The mission of the West Virginia Intelligence Fusion Center is to anticipate, identify, prevent, and monitor criminal activity and all other hazards and to responsibly distribute that intelligence to its stakeholders while both protecting the rights of its citizens and guarding the rights and integrity of law enforcement and private industry. Additional information about the WV Intelligence Fusion Center is available online at www.fusioncenter.wv.gov or by calling 1-866-WVWATCH.