Movement's Members Claim Diplomatic Immunity

By: Rafael Sanchez

INDIANAPOLIS -- Pendleton police have seized a license plate of a so-called "sovereign citizen," a growing group of Indiana residents who claim to be outside the law.

Police said the plate was going to be placed on a vehicle by a self-proclaimed diplomat
in lieu of a state-issued plate.

Members of the sovereign citizen movement contend that they no longer have to pay taxes, claiming their
homes as embassies and using identification cards that show them as
diplomats, 6News' Rafael Sanchez
reported.

Pendleton Police Chief Marc Farrer called such proclamations both illegitimate and illegal, and said that anyone driving with such plates
will be ticketed and have their vehicle towed. The plate was turned over
to the FBI.The Secretary of State's office said about 10 people
every month ask to put a seal on a document so that they can claim
freedom from taxes.Former federal prosecutor Larry Mackey, who
helped to convict Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols in the bombing of
the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995, said Nichols claimed he was a
"sovereign citizen."

"He would carry out his beliefs by having a license plate that said UCC Chapter 9, and thereby think that he was
exempt from licensing his vehicle. He would send mail with the U.S. flag
stamp upside down to demonstrate his protest against tax laws," Mackey
said. "There are people who get engaged in this warfare against the
federal government … that simply are not well-adjusted.

"Despite Nichols' association with the movement, not all sovereign citizens
support domestic terrorism.Those who
Sanchez talked to said they draw their beliefs from the Bible and
U.S. Constitution.Many claim that the statements within the
papers they provide are enforceable because of a state seal placed on
the material, but state officials said that in reality, that seal is
placed on any number of documents and doesn't make what's on the
documents true.Indiana is not the only state seeing an uptick in
sovereign citizens.

In February, four men were convicted in Missouri for buying and selling fraudulent credentials related to the movement.In
March 2009, federal authorities arrested four men in Las Vegas in a
similar operation.Some people are paying between $900 and $2,100
to become members of a sovereign citizens group."It is really, at
the bottom, silliness. It's people being unfortunately selfish to the
point of putting themselves and families at risk," Mackey said. "By
declaring yourself a sovereign citizen, it does nothing but frankly get
your name on a file with the (Internal Revenue Service)."Mackey
currently practices law with the Indianapolis law firm of Barnes and
Thornburg LLP.

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