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After a widow put her $1.5 million mansion on the market, a group of 'sovereign citizens' moved in, changed the locks, and tried to claim it as their own
Insider ^ | 23 July 2021 | Kelsey Vlamis

Posted on 08/13/2021 3:27:31 AM PDT by COBOL2Java


A group of at least five self-proclaimed "sovereign citizens" moved into an empty Maryland mansion and tried to claim it as their own, The Baltimore Sun reported Thursday.

The group, which included a dentist and a convicted sex offender, moved in, changed the locks, and put a chain across the driveway with a "private property" sign.

The homeowner, who did not want to be named due to safety concerns, had moved out of the $1.5 million home in Baltimore County and listed it for sale after the death of her husband last year. When a neighbor noticed unusual activity, including people unloading furniture, she notified the homeowner.

The homeowner then realized she was being sued for property ownership. Police reports reviewed by The Sun said one of the people called the takeover a "sovereign acquisition."

Sovereign citizens believe they should choose which laws they follow, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. The movement is based on a conspiracy theory that the US government, as established by the founding fathers, was secretly replaced.

They do not believe in the authority of judges, juries, law enforcement, or elected officials, and most do not believe they should have to pay taxes. Sovereign citizens "clog up the courts with indecipherable filings" and sometimes engage in "paper terrorism" that involves tons of court filings with "pseudo-legal nonsense," according to the SPLC.

Police had tried multiple times to get the squatters to leave the home, including using a helicopter and armored vehicles, The Sun reported. They were able to get a search warrant after pulling over Michael Lawrence Warren, one of the squatters, for a traffic stop and discovering his identity and criminal history, which included sex offenses.

Court records show Warren was arrested and charged with multiple counts of burglary and illegal possession of a firearm.

Another person implicated in the incident is Tessa Mona Modiri. Court records show she has also been arrested and charged with multiple counts of burglary. The Baltimore Sun said Modiri had filed a complaint with the county claiming the home belonged to her because she entered it through a broken door, arguing it was abandoned.

A person with the name Tessa M. Modiri is listed as having an active dentist license in the state of Maryland's database.

There are three others facing burglary charges in the incident, but they have not yet been arrested.

The Baltimore County Police Department did not immediately respond to a request from Insider for more information on the charges and arrests.

Sovereign citizens have attempted to take over other people's homes in the past. Last month, a self-proclaimed sovereign citizen was arrested after entering a woman's vacant home in New Jersey and changing the locks.

Another group affiliated with the sovereign-citizen movement got into a heavily armed standoff with police on a Massachusetts freeway earlier this month. Police said the 11 men arrested referred to themselves as a militia that followed a "Moorish Sovereign Ideology," which is an offshoot of the sovereign-citizen movement, experts told The Boston Globe.


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Local News; Society
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So, if the laws of the US don't apply to them, shooting them in the head isn't homicide since the law doesn't apply.
1 posted on 08/13/2021 3:27:31 AM PDT by COBOL2Java
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To: COBOL2Java

It’s not “a $1.5 million house” until someone pays that much for it on today’s market.


2 posted on 08/13/2021 3:31:08 AM PDT by Tax-chick (Nature, art, simplicity, peace.)
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To: COBOL2Java

Now that Uncle Sam has become a thief and grifter, it’s cool for the favored elements of the Great Unwashed to be likewise.

It’s a Bladerunner World we live in, but the only Replicants are the Commies running the show, replicating the same failed Thousand Year Reich of their hero’s dream, King Barry the First.


3 posted on 08/13/2021 3:37:28 AM PDT by Quentin Quarantino
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To: COBOL2Java

not a bad idea.


4 posted on 08/13/2021 3:37:40 AM PDT by ronniesgal (so I wonder what his FR handle is???? )
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To: COBOL2Java

This is a job for the Mafia. Just go in and fix the problem.

Honestly, there are a lot of problems that government simply will not fix. People will have to find alternative solutions.


5 posted on 08/13/2021 3:38:13 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (We have two Democrat parties. 50% of the US population has no political representation.)
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To: COBOL2Java

Logical........Very logical.


6 posted on 08/13/2021 3:44:58 AM PDT by Liz (Our side has 8 trillion bullets; the other side doe't know which bathroom to use)
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To: COBOL2Java

Capital idea!


7 posted on 08/13/2021 3:45:53 AM PDT by mad_as_he$$
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To: COBOL2Java
So when our employers force us back into offices to work (as mine is planning to do) and there's no one home during the day, some squatter can just break in and call it his house? Fortunately, we have CPI security and three cameras, two in front, one in back, plus a solid fence and padlocked gates.

BTW, I miss the TV show Live PD. That's where I first learned about this 'Sovereign Citizens' movement. Cops would pull someone over for a traffic infraction, and the idiot would refuse to get out of the car because he's a 'sovereign citizen.' After trying to reason with the fool, the cops just dragged him out, cuffed him and hauled him away. That was the end of his personal sovereignty.

8 posted on 08/13/2021 3:53:46 AM PDT by Avalon Memories (Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right...)
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To: COBOL2Java

In the Newark case, the ‘sovereign citizens’ were black, as well as the legal homeowner. She went to the police there and instead of doing what white police forces tend to do, which is to say “it’s a civil manner, take it to court”, they raided that house and arrested everyone.

I think pretty much all of these squatter cases are from elements of society that ‘look like America’.


9 posted on 08/13/2021 3:54:43 AM PDT by BobL (I shop at Walmart and eat at McDonald's, I just don't tell anyone, like most here.)
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To: COBOL2Java; 100American; Abundy; Albion Wilde; AlwaysFree; AnnaSASsyFR; bayliving; BFM; Bigg Red; ..

Maryland “Freak State” PING!


10 posted on 08/13/2021 3:55:17 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (Florida: America's new free zone.)
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To: COBOL2Java
Years ago when we were trying to buy a house our lawyer told us that there was a problem with plot boundaries and he mentioned the legal concept of “adverse possession”. I did some research and was stunned to learn what I did. One can lose legal ownership of a piece of property in the way described here...but it's a complicated process.
11 posted on 08/13/2021 4:01:10 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Covid Is All About Mail In Balloting)
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To: COBOL2Java

They would meet my sovereign army.

When you grew up in Rural Redneck, Pennsyltucky, you have lots of friends in low places.


12 posted on 08/13/2021 4:02:57 AM PDT by tired&retired (Blessings )
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To: COBOL2Java

The Southern Poverty Law Center is a hate group. They ‘missed’ the fact that almost a million illegals broke into our country - ignoring our laws - and deciding they have the right to live in the US.

Nope, the haters at SPLC ‘missed’ a million law breakers - but they ‘found’ 30 nutcases they think they can pin on conservatives. Eff the haters....


13 posted on 08/13/2021 4:03:25 AM PDT by GOPJ (Biden's Border Plan: Dump diseased illegals in Florida & other red states to discredit DeSantis )
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To: COBOL2Java

These pests are a black sovereign citizen movement. Let this be noted for these BLM inspired wack-a-doodles.


14 posted on 08/13/2021 4:03:53 AM PDT by dennisw
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To: tired&retired

My construction crew would all arrive at 6 am and start remodeling.


15 posted on 08/13/2021 4:06:28 AM PDT by tired&retired (Blessings )
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To: COBOL2Java

These are just homesteaders taking advantage of an opportunity.😀(sarcasm)

Over the next decade these stories will only multiply, unfortunately.


16 posted on 08/13/2021 4:12:24 AM PDT by unclebankster (Globalism is the last refuge of a scoundrel)
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To: Tax-chick

I the local government assesses the property at 1.5 million for real estate tax purposes then it’s a $1.5 million house.


17 posted on 08/13/2021 4:21:05 AM PDT by Russ (I )
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To: unclebankster

“Over the next decade these stories will only multiply, unfortunately.”

This situation seems like an enhanced version of the homeless pitching their tents on the sidewalks in front of people’s homes and the givernment won’t protect the taxpaying homeowner.


18 posted on 08/13/2021 4:22:04 AM PDT by Susquehanna Patriot
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To: Russ

Faith in government vs. faith in the market.


19 posted on 08/13/2021 4:22:43 AM PDT by Tax-chick (Nature, art, simplicity, peace.)
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To: COBOL2Java

“Sovereign citizens “clog up the courts with indecipherable filings” and sometimes engage in “paper terrorism” that involves tons of court filings with “pseudo-legal nonsense,”

Funny that ... they still use the court system that they don’t recognize as applying to them.


20 posted on 08/13/2021 4:24:27 AM PDT by Susquehanna Patriot
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