The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, in tandem with Seminole County Sheriff’s deputies, conducted a full-force raid on the Lake Mary, Florida residence of a family accused of association with the “Sovereign Citizens” tax-protest movement, reports Orlando NBC affiliate WESH-TV.
Neighbor Evelyn Briggs told WESH that the raiding party “even had robots out there, almost like a movie.” Evelyn’s husband Robert told the local Fox affiliate that the strike force consisted of “about a dozen FBI agents and SWAT people.”
“It’s not something you see here in Lake Mary on an everyday basis,” agreed fellow neighbor Jim Famiglietti,” who appeared not to understand how the quiet and unremarkable couple could wind up being the target of such a draconian enforcement action. “It’s kind of shocking, actually. People make mistakes, but you just don’t know….Maybe some tax protesting and that kind of thing. People protest all the time in this country, and it’s your right. I don’t think the FBI would come in with that kind of fire power,” said Famiglietti.
Dutifully carrying out its assigned task of providing stenography for government agencies, WESH explained that “the FBI listed Sovereign Citizens among the nation’s top domestic terror threats. By some estimates, there are as many as 300,000 of the anti-government extremists in the country.” Despite the fact that nobody in the neighborhood expressed concerns about the family who had been targeted by the Feds, WESH concluded its report by saying: “Neighbors hope the raid will put their fears to rest” — an observation that makes sense only if it’s understood that the fear was a result of the Stasi-style raid, rather than the presence of political non-conformists in the community.
The JTTF mounted a paramilitary raid despite the fact that the couple has yet to be charged with an offense of any kind, and the “evidence” removed from the home reportedly consisted entirely of computers and documents. The invaders also took the opportunity to go through the garage and the couple’s automobiles.
Just one day before the federal raid against suspected “domestic extremists” took place near Orlando, Florida, the White House convened a secretive meeting with scores of top-ranking state and local law enforcement officials to discuss the purported threat of “homegrown terrorism.” This category includes not only Islamic “radicalism” and “white supremacist beliefs,” but also what is described as “anti-government extremism” generally. The event, which was closed to the public, examined 62 case studies as part of a program devoted to “identifying and preventing violent extremism and homegrown terrorism.”
Recounts the Washington Post:
In the 62 cases reviewed, the subjects increasingly spoke out against the government, blamed the government for perceived problems and did so in a way that caught the attention of other people in their communities, according to the senior counterterrorism official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private White House event. Subjects became active on the Internet to espouse extremist views. And in some cases, the subjects purchased weapons, ammunition or explosive materials.
It’s important to point out that none of what is described above — condemning government policies (or even denying its legitimacy entirely, as the Declaration of Independence recognizes), expressing those views on the Internet, or buying weapons — is a crime. Federal and local law enforcement, however, have been indoctrinated since the Oklahoma City Bombing to think in terms of pre-emptive war against individuals and groups suspected of harboring anti-government sentiments.
“I see the formation of a curious crusading mentality among certain law enforcement agencies to stamp out what they see as a threat to government generally,” complained law enforcement consultant Tony Cooper, who taught negotiation methods, in 1995. “It’s an exaggerated concern that they are facing a nationwide conspiracy and that somehow this will get out of control unless it is stamped out at a very early stage.”
Post-9/11, that “crusading mentality” was focused primarily on suspected Islamic militants. However, during the last few years, the Obama-era Department of Homeland Security — continuing a trend that had actually begun in the last year of the George W. Bush administration — redirected its focus toward “Sovereign Citizens” and other purported domestic “threats.” The raid in Lake Mary is the second recent instance in which a high-tech paramilitary operation has been mounted against people suspected of harboring such “illicit” views: Last June, two Predator drones were employed in an effort to arrest the unarmed sons of North Dakota farmer Rodney Brossart, who was involved in a dispute over stray cattle. This extraordinary measure was supposedly justified by the local sheriff’s suspicions that Brossart had some distant and unspecified connection to the “Sovereign Citizen” movement.
For more about the raid in Lake Mary, go here.
Now it is illegal to post your property. I guess no one can read these days, So much for the rule of law anymore “it too” just went out the window. How can the people follow the rule of law and respect it when anyone living off the tax payers dollars will not nor do they have too?
My father was a federal agent and I am sure he is rolling over in his grave. I guess they just keep on looking for the right person who will fight back, kind of like the bully in school thing.
Funny there are more communist groups in Saint Petersburg than the whole of the world, not to mention the criminals in the northern parts of Tampa, I guess they are scared of them? But if the guy has a few tax issues like most of the Government workers do, then why not take his car, TV and stuff like that, why ? papers. I guess soon they will be taking your wife and kids too, if you might have a tax problem, better get a good CPA in the morning.Then again you just can’t fix stupid not even with a pay check thesedays.I would have thought that with the new NDAA they could have just used a few tanks , stuff like that to really scare the children in the town. But then again I heard the guy legally had a gun, I am sure this is what it really is all about, never waste a good moment to scare someone who might think they have a right of some kind anymore in America. Sure hope the guy will get carbonite next time to protect his files and credit and stuff maybe Carbonite can be his witness in this case as to what was really on his computer?
Tuxkabin says things don’t look to good anymore for the tax payer. I just read today that the Mexican drug lords are now controling every city in American and they are going after this poor guy who thinks he might have a case or two to argue in a court of real law. Twenty guys can catch one possible tax cheat but not one drug lord with ATF illegal guns, who murder Federal officers as my dad was. As I said you just cannot fix stupid not even with tax payers good money. Sick just real sick hope the men in black are really happy and sleep good at night for showing everyone how tuff they really are, and the hell with scaring the kids they could not wait for the guy to go to the store, we have to get him now. I for one am sorry that I had to live this long to see our country turned into this. But you know times are changing fast and tax payers are becoming a thing of the past in America. just sick.
Free and sovereign here in Milwaukee. Just waiting for my visit. Hope everyone has thier life insurance paid up. Mine is!
Stay safe my friend.
Under NDAA, these people can be renditioned to a foreign country or held here indefinitely. That is what your Congress approved on December 14th,2011; and that was signed off by every member of the FL delegation in the Senate and House of Representatives except Bill Posey, Alcee Hastings and Connie Mack.
If it was not so, many of the people who voted YES to NDAA on the 14th would not have scrambled to second guess themselves and create HR3786 on the 15th to “clarify” NDAA language.
Two Republicans and a Democrat…the only three to obey their Oath.
Where is the congressman and the State Reprentative for the Lake Wales area? How do they weigh in on this matter. It is an outrage.
Wonder if the insurance companies will declare such deaths as resulting from an “Act of War” and refuse to pay-off……