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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.


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To: Susquehanna Patriot

They also have no trouble cashing their welfare chacks and getting their EBT cards loaded.


61 posted on 08/13/2021 6:22:12 AM PDT by Noumenon (The Second Amendment exists primarily to deal with those who just won't take no for an answer. KTF)
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Comment #62 Removed by Moderator

To: COBOL2Java

This is the part where you hire a bunch of bikers and 2 hours later the house is empty again.


63 posted on 08/13/2021 6:45:44 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: COBOL2Java

Bunch of nut cases


64 posted on 08/13/2021 6:47:12 AM PDT by Stravinsky
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To: COBOL2Java

Well, I’m never using THAT dentist!

What a bunch of scum.


65 posted on 08/13/2021 8:19:44 AM PDT by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Federal-run medical care is as good as state-run DMVs. )
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To: Avalon Memories

That was the case up in New England the other month, right?

Those guys going from RI to Maine or something like that, that were pulled over and ran away?


66 posted on 08/13/2021 8:22:16 AM PDT by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Federal-run medical care is as good as state-run DMVs. )
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To: Gay State Conservative

Yes, adverse possession is the legal term for “squatter’s rights”!

I learned of this dealing with our graveyard issues. Basically someone with a deeded property next to a closed graveyard wanted to claim it as his, since it seems “abandoned”.

Lesson is don’t ever let your property seem abandoned. Houses are very vulnerable. Visit it for a weekend reasonably often. Have someone else do the same.


67 posted on 08/13/2021 8:28:05 AM PDT by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Federal-run medical care is as good as state-run DMVs. )
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To: the OlLine Rebel
That was the case up in New England the other month, right?

I didn't hear/read about that case, but apparently it's a fairly widespread movement across the country. It's actually a way to claim being above and outside the law. Such fools actually believe the cops and courts will let them get away with such nonsense.

68 posted on 08/13/2021 10:10:41 AM PDT by Avalon Memories (Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right...)
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To: COBOL2Java

Get a different tougher group of citizens to evict them


69 posted on 08/13/2021 10:41:05 AM PDT by Pete from Shawnee Mission ( )
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To: sauropod; Tolerance Sucks Rocks
House is somewhere on Falls Road. I'd say somewhere between Padonia Rd. and Belfast Rd.

The girl; a dentist.

The guy; career criminal.


70 posted on 08/13/2021 6:16:11 PM PDT by Mase (Save me from the people who would save me from myself!)
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To: Mase; Secret Agent Man

Judging by those pictures, I can only say one thing: CHICKS DIG JERKS!!!


71 posted on 08/13/2021 6:46:04 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (Florida: America's new free zone.)
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To: ClearCase_guy

“Handyman”

He “fixes things”


72 posted on 08/13/2021 7:36:09 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not Averse to Going Bronson.)
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