A sovereign citizen in Washington state was charged with filing false tax liens against a number of state officials, and is accused of describing his plans to petition “off-duty” Supreme Court justices to try to get his business partner released from prison.
Kenneth Leaming was charged with retaliating against a federal judge or law enforcement officer by filing a false claim, according to a complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney in Washington. The complaint details how Leaming filed eight fake liens that amounted to about $225 billion against against various officials, including a District Court judge and two former U.S. Attorneys.
Leaming, a former sheriff’s deputy, is affiliated with the sovereign citizen movement and with a local band of sovereign citizens that call themselves “County Rangers.” These “County Rangers” carry badges that identify themselves as “Peace Officers,” and several of them have also been arrested for threatening to abduct officials and various tax fraud charges, among other things.
Leaming himself is also a member of the “Little Shell Pambina Band,” which claims to belong to a “sovereign” Native American tribe. The Anti-Defamation League refer to this group as anti-government extremists that are part of the sovereign citizen movement, and even mentions Leaming by name in its report on the group.
According to the complaint, Leaming was previously prosecuted for piloting an aircraft without a valid pilot’s license, to which he pleaded guilty. But he violated the terms of his parole by filing a “vexatious lawsuit lien or retaliatory complaint to law enforcement against witnesses, court personnel USPO or the prosecutor.” He is also alleged to have violated his parole terms by “claiming diplomatic status or immunity.”
Around August 11 of this year, the complaint says, the Feds were tipped off that Leaming had been in contact with federal inmate David Stephenson. Stephenson is serving eight years for tax fraud, and was Leaming’s business partner on the “Civil Rights Task Force.” Leaming describes himself as an “international Lawyer and Attorney in Fact.”
In a July 4 conversation described in the complaint, Stephenson tells Leaming that they are hoping to “put the judges” on the spot to prove their authority. Leaming replies that if the judges “don’t straighten up soon, [he] will have a little liability correspondence with Eric Holder himself.” He adds, seemingly referring to President Obama: “Someone has suggested we go after body odor in the White House.”
In another exchange, Leaming describes a rather convoluted plot involving the Iraq War and the Rothschild family:
Stephenson remarks that he doesn’t like the business of politicians sending their soldiers to war for their own profit and gain, and Leaming remarks that it’s the Rothschilds, not politicians. Leaming remarks that the Rothschilds are hiding in a bunker in India, and they control the central bank of Iraq, which has to cover all of the Iraqi currency which has been purchased by Americans and others. Leaming remarks that this is causing a loss of wealth of the Rothschilds, and the inner circle are “jumping ship”, just like body odor’s inner circle in the White House.
According to the complaint, Leaming also corresponded with Stephenson about contacting Supreme Court Justices to petition for Stephenson’s release. In one e-mail to Stephenson, Leaming said that he will “flood” the Supreme Court with habeas corpus petitions and send one to each Justice, “and resend the one to the Chief Justice, and maybe one to his kid’s school to be given to the parents. One way or another he is going to get it in his hands and I’ll start working on off duty locations for the remaining justices as well.”
Leaming’s next hearing is scheduled for December 6.
