Jan 18, 2007 8:40 pm US/Eastern
Tax Evader Barricades Himself In N.H. Home
CONCORD, N.H. (CBS4) ―
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Ed Brown inside his Plainfield home.
WBZ
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Brown's home in Plainfield, New Hampshire.
WBZ
A federal jury found Plainfield couple guilty of tax evasion Thursday. The husband wasn't in court for the verdict, because he has barricaded himself in his hilltop home, saying he is prepared for an armed standoff.
Ed and Elaine Brown haven't paid federal income taxes since 1996 because they don't think the law requires them to pay. They argue there is no law requiring individual income taxes. The government says they owe more than $600,000.
The federal jury in Concord convicted them on charges of conspiring to evade taxes, conspiring to disguise large financial transactions and disguising large transactions.
Elaine Brown, who has a dentistry practice in Lebanon, was also convicted of evading income taxes and failing to withhold taxes from her employees. She was in court to hear the verdict.
The couple did not show up for their trial on Friday. Elaine returned on Tuesday to say she would negotiate with prosecutors, but Ed Brown stayed holed up in their home, vowing to stay away from court and protect his property.
On Thursday, friends guarded the door as Brown would only talk to WBZ from the top of his garage stairs.
"Waco started my interest to begin to investigate what was going on in this country, in this government," Brown said. "Somebody in America has to start standing up against this oppression from the government. Their people want to come down here and take my country? They're going to do it the hard way. I advise them to go away."
"We're not going to go there," said Steve Monier, a US Marshal. "This is a tax case; it's not a violent crime. We're continuing our discussions with Mr. Brown."
Monier says his office has been in regular contact with Brown and has no plans to go to the property at this point.
E-mails that have circulated on anti-government Web sites and e-mail listservs have called on supporters to help protect Brown and his home. One message, urging people to join Brown, was titled "Will Plainfield be another Waco?"
The Browns' large home, surrounded by acres of woods, sits atop a large hill. A circular tower affords a 360-degree view, and walls in the home's recent addition are reinforced with 10-inch-wide concrete, Brown said.
Over the past few decades, Brown has claimed membership in several anti-government and militia groups including the Constitution Rangers of the Continental Congress of 1777, the Constitution Defense Militia and the UnAmerican Activities Investigations Commission, which he founded.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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