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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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To: tired&retired

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

Its same on the West Coast outside the urban communist areas.

Many of my friends in technically “low places” own a lot of firearms..... just saying.


21 posted on 08/13/2021 4:25:45 AM PDT by unclebankster (Globalism is the last refuge of a scoundrel)
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To: Tax-chick

Can’t speak for Baltimore, but in our area (SE Tennessee) houses are selling sight unseen well above asking price. It’s a free-for-all right now. Never seen anything like it. All the Uhaul lots in our area are busting at the seams with dropped off trucks and trailers. Houses are listed for hours before going under contract, not days or weeks.


22 posted on 08/13/2021 4:26:44 AM PDT by Thermalseeker (If ignorance is bliss how come there aren't more happy people?)
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To: Gay State Conservative

“adverse possession”
________________________
in other words, stealing...


23 posted on 08/13/2021 4:29:27 AM PDT by HypatiaTaught (Sounds like a conspiracy theory? Wait 6 months and it will be truth.)
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To: Quentin Quarantino

“Now that Uncle Sam has become a thief and grifter,....”

You are onto something here. These sovereign sit-in-zens are amateurs compared to the givernment. And the givernment doesn’t like the competition, especially from amateurs. After all, if they let them take over the homes, these amateurs won’t pay the excessive property taxes. Can’t have that!! Now if they would only pitch their tents on the streets in front of these homes, givernment wouldn’t care as much because it helps keep the taxpayers in bondage.


24 posted on 08/13/2021 4:30:26 AM PDT by Susquehanna Patriot
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To: COBOL2Java

This is why I don’t live in a 1.5 million dollar mansion.


25 posted on 08/13/2021 4:31:02 AM PDT by Leep (Save America. Lock down Joe Biden!)
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To: Susquehanna Patriot

“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.”

True statement and I’ll take it one step farther.

Our government whether city, county, state, or federal is an obscene waste of money. Its disgusting.


26 posted on 08/13/2021 4:31:17 AM PDT by unclebankster (Globalism is the last refuge of a scoundrel)
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To: Tax-chick

OMG!!! The PRICE DOESN’T MATTER AT ALL!!! geesh....


27 posted on 08/13/2021 4:35:58 AM PDT by Ann Archy (Abortion....... The HUMAN Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: Tax-chick
It’s not “a $1.5 million house” until someone pays that much for it on today’s market.

In today's market that probably means it's a $2m house.

28 posted on 08/13/2021 4:36:22 AM PDT by KevinB (''... and to the Banana Republic for which it stands ...")
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To: Gay State Conservative
One can lose legal ownership of a piece of property in the way described here...but it's a complicated process.

In order to obtain title by adverse possession, they would have to live there 20 years under claim of right without the actual owner disputing their right to live there. Quite unlikely.

29 posted on 08/13/2021 4:39:12 AM PDT by KevinB (''... and to the Banana Republic for which it stands ...")
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To: Gay State Conservative

As you probably learned about adverse possession, this case has those elements, except the criminal invaders will not be able to have continuous possession for the statutory period (years) prescribed.

Not sure if you ended up buying that house, sounds like you had a good lawyer. As soon as a neighbor encroaches in any way on one’s land, one needs to object as that “re-sets” the continuous possession requirement “clock”. Good fences make for good neighbors is not a myth.


30 posted on 08/13/2021 4:40:14 AM PDT by Susquehanna Patriot
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To: Tax-chick

I wonder where in Balto. County this is.


31 posted on 08/13/2021 4:43:04 AM PDT by sauropod (Amateurs built the ark; Professionals built the Titanic. Anon)
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To: COBOL2Java

Get a dozen big boys with bolt cutters to let themselves in and ‘take over’ just like the squatters did.

Who are they going to call? The Police?

She owns the place she can enter her place any time she wants- along with a dozen or so big burly friends.


32 posted on 08/13/2021 4:43:44 AM PDT by Mr. K (No consequence of repealing obamacare is worse than obamacare itself)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Do you know?


33 posted on 08/13/2021 4:47:40 AM PDT by sauropod (Amateurs built the ark; Professionals built the Titanic. Anon)
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To: sauropod

Beats the heck out of me.


34 posted on 08/13/2021 4:48:44 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (Florida: America's new free zone.)
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To: COBOL2Java

Courts seem to only protect criminals. They should have been tossed out and locked up immediately.


35 posted on 08/13/2021 4:50:47 AM PDT by boycott
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To: unclebankster

“Our government whether city, county, state, or federal is an obscene waste of money. Its disgusting.”

Uncle - there is no end to it too. Despite all the technology to squeeze our efficiency as seen in the marketplace, givernment (that is not a misspelling by the way) continues to cost more. And the cost is more than just direct taxation. For example, think about the people in Portland whose property was harmed or destroyed because the givernment won’t enforce the laws - who pays for that? Then if they can find an insurer who will underwrite their property, the price goes up. This sovereign citizen crap is a natural outgrowth of leftism / anarchists - right to “the homeless” taking over the sidewalks, and parks and the givernment does zero. Sure there are people who some describe as “right wingers” who believe this crap too, but they are just a different strain of anarchist.


36 posted on 08/13/2021 4:51:45 AM PDT by Susquehanna Patriot
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To: COBOL2Java

“Well, officer, we put the mansion on the market but we knew it needed tenting for pests. So we tented, pumped in Vikane, and after 24 hours, took off the tents. Its awful sad what happened.”


37 posted on 08/13/2021 4:53:10 AM PDT by 17th Miss Regt
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To: Mr. K

“Who are they going to call? The Police?”

Of course they will, especially if they get the living crap beaten out of them. Then they’ll sue the homeowner for their injuries and end up “owning the house”. See, the laws are to protect the criminals inside and outside the givernment. Citizens live in chains.


38 posted on 08/13/2021 4:54:29 AM PDT by Susquehanna Patriot
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To: ClearCase_guy

Every neighborhood needs a godfather.


39 posted on 08/13/2021 4:55:07 AM PDT by FES0844
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To: Susquehanna Patriot

I wouldn’t know how they got injured.... the poor guys musta fell down.


40 posted on 08/13/2021 4:55:22 AM PDT by Mr. K (No consequence of repealing obamacare is worse than obamacare itself)
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