By KATHRYN MARCHOCKI
New Hampshire Union Leader Staff
Wednesday, Apr. 25, 2007
CONCORD – Anti-tax crusaders Edward L. and Elaine A. Brown remained holed up in their fortress-like Plainfield home yesterday while a federal judge sentenced them to more than five years in prison and ordered them to begin repaying the estimated $750,000 they owe in income taxes.
Amid heavy courthouse security in the wake of threats posted on Internet Web sites and blogs by supporters of the couple's cause, Judge Steven J. McAuliffe also ordered the couple to forfeit to the federal government a total $215,890 in postal money-order purchases they made in order to avoid federal income-reporting requirements
The Browns, who attended neither hearing and were sentenced to 63 months in prison in absentia, were remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshal Service, which said it continues to speak with the couple regularly in an effort to resolve the matter peacefully.
"We encourage them to do the right thing. The right thing is to surrender," said Stephen R. Monier, U.S. Marshal for New HampshireU.S. Marshal for New Hampshire.
Kat Kanning, right, of Keene, Lauren
Canario of Winchester and
Kira Dillon of Keene were among about a dozen
people outside U.S. District Court
yesterday to support Edward and Elaine Brown. (BOB LAPREE)
Noting the Browns have weapons and "hazardous conditions" on their property -- and that they have said they will greet any attempt to serve them with outstanding arrest warrants with violence, -- Monier held fast to his strategy not to engage the couple in a standoff.
"In this case, we think patience is a virtue," Monier said at a news conference.
But Monier warned anyone found providing "assistance, aid or comfort" to the Browns' efforts to escape justice will be subject to arrest and prosecution.
Supplying weapons and ammunition to the couple is a felony offense, he said. And any threats made against government officials will be investigated fully, Monier added.
Elaine Brown, 65, who ran a private dental practice, and her husband, a retired exterminator, have not filed federal income tax returns since 1996, claiming there is no law requiring them to pay federal income taxes.
A jury convicted them Jan. 18 of conspiracy to defraud the federal government, structuring, and conspiracy to structure financial transactions by plotting to hide their income and avoid taxes on Elaine Brown's income of $1.9 million between 1996 and 2003.
The jury also found the couple conspired to buy a total $215,890 in postal money orders in amounts just below the $3,000 threshold that would have required them to comply with federal income reporting requirements. That amount includes $42,840 used to make mortgage payments on their office building at 27 Glen Road in West Lebanon and $27,997 used to make payments on their Plainfield home, court records show.
Elaine Brown also was convicted of 14 additional counts for tax evasion, failure to collect employment taxes and structuring.
"They have no faith in the court system and they figure anything they say wouldn't help," said Lauren Canario of Winchester, who spoke with the Browns Monday night of their decision not to attend yesterday's hearing.
Canario, a member of the Free State Project who moved from Las Vegas, Nev., to Winchester, has been delivering groceries to the couple's Plainfield home so they do not have to venture outside.
Kath Kanning, another Free Stater who moved to Keene from Texas, said Edward Brown, 63, told her he remains in his home so "it would be clear, if he started shooting, that he would be defending himself. But if he went into town, it wouldn't be so clear."
One outstanding arrest warrant charges Edward Brown with failure to appear in court after he stopped showing up for his trial on Jan. 12. An arrest warrant was issued for his wife Feb. 21 after she violated her bail conditions and returned to the Plainfield home. Once arrested on the federal warrants, the couple will go directly to prison, Monier said.
"These warrants are not going to go away, and neither is law enforcement," Monier wrote the Browns in a letter yesterday.
"They have indicated there will be a violent confrontation if we showed up to serve the warrants. We're just not going to engage in that type of game," he explained, adding "We're not there now."
"They've said all along 'We're not leaving.' And, you know what? We believe them. We know exactly where they are," Monier said.
McAuliffe ordered the couple to file "true and actual" income tax returns for the years 1996 through 2003 within 60 days and abide by any tax repayment schedule established by the IRS.
Prosecuting attorney Morse said unpaid taxes owed by the Browns were estimated at trial at $750,000.
He said this number does not include the 2004 and 2005 tax years.
Elaine Brown also was ordered to pay the court a $1,700 fine and her husband to pay a $300 fine.
Morse also said Elaine Brown caused more than $1,000 damage to her electronic ankle bracelet when she made it "permanently inoperable," which is a felony offense.