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4 'Sovereign Citizen' activists convicted

Federal juries in Tacoma over the past week have convicted four people connected to the “Sovereign Citizen” movement of various crimes, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Thursday.

ADAM LYNN; Staff writer
Published: March 8, 2013 at 12:05 a.m. PST — Updated: March 8, 2013 at 1:55 a.m. PST
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Federal juries in Tacoma over the past week have convicted four people connected to the “Sovereign Citizen” movement of various crimes, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Thursday.

Yelm residents Raymond Leo Jarlik Bell and Ute Christine Jarlik Bell were convicted Thursday of four counts of filing false, fictitious and fraudulent claims. Raymond Jarlik Bell also was convicted of 15 counts of assisting in filing false tax returns, three counts of mail fraud and one count of obstruction of justice.

In one case, federal officials said, he helped a woman get an undeserved tax refund of $590,000

The Jarlik Bells are to be sentenced June 14.

Convicted last week were Spanaway resident Kenneth Wayne Leaming and former Tacoma resident David Carroll Stephenson.

Leaming was found guilty of filing false liens against federal officials, harboring fugitives and illegally possessing firearms. Stephenson was found guilty of a single count of filing a false lien against a federal official.

Members of the “Sovereign Citizen” movement contend federal and state governments are illegitimate. They are known to file claims and liens against government officials, seeking monetary damages they claim are redress for government harassment.

Leaming and Stephenson conspired to file liens against an Arizona prison warden and the head of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, court records show.

They are to be sentenced May 24.

Adam Lynn: 253-597-8644 adam.lynn@ thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/crime @TNTadam

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