Boston Area News

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) ― The government has taken custody of the home and wooded property of convicted tax evaders Ed and Elaine Brown after clearing the area of homemade bombs and booby traps.

U.S. Marshal Stephen Monier says it took nearly two weeks for explosives teams to find, remove and blow up a large number of homemade bombs.

The Browns were arrested this month after they welcomed federal agents, pretending to be supporters, to their secluded home. Officials said Thursday that the 110-acre Plainfield property where the couple stayed for months, disputing the existence of the federal income tax and refusing to surrender to authorities, now is posted with "No Trespassing -- Government Property" signs.

That property, which includes the Browns' solar and wind-power equipped home, along with Elaine Brown's dental office in nearby Lebanon, now are in the hands of federal Treasury Department. The properties may be sold to cover the Browns' unpaid federal income taxes and other liabilities, including local property tax.

"Anyone who enters, or attempts to enter, either of the seized properties without permission from proper authorities is subject to arrest and prosecution," read a statement issued Thursday from the U.S. Marshals Service; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and the Internal Revenue Service.

Officials said all explosives found on the Browns' property were removed and destroyed.

"Though a slow and painstaking process, safety was our first and foremost concern," said ATF Special Agent Glenn Anderson. "All known (improvised explosive devices) have been properly disposed of, and are no longer a threat."

The Browns' arrests ended a standoff that began in January, when Ed Brown, 65, a retired exterminator, and Elaine Brown, 67, walked out of their federal trial in Concord. She returned to the trial but soon joined her husband at home, where they promised a violent end to any attempt to remove them.

Sentenced to 63 months in prison, they refused to leave their home, sustained by stores of food, supplies from supporters and a fan base stoked by constant postings and broadcasts on the Internet.

"We either walk out of here free or we die," Ed Brown said.

No shots were fired, however, when authorities showed up at the Browns' home Oct. 4. Ed Brown was sent to a federal prison in Elkton, Ohio. Elaine Brown is at a federal prison in Danbury, Conn. Authorities say the Browns could face new charges because of their self-imposed exile.

Four of their supporters have been charged with helping the Browns evade arrest. The cases of Daniel Riley, Cirino Gonzalez, Jason Gerhard and Robert Wolffe this week were reassigned to a judge in U.S. District Court in Portland, Maine, after both judges who handle criminal cases in New Hampshire's federal court recused themselves, citing worries over perceptions of impartiality because of threats made to Chief Judge Stephen McAuliffe when he presided over Browns' trial.

A judge from Maine will preside over the trials, which will be held in Concord.

Federal marshals also have interviewed people around New Hampshire and the rest of the country during their search for anyone suspected of plotting violence in retaliation over the Browns' arrests. In Manchester, marshals have questioned several members of the Free State Project, a group of small-government activists that includes Brown supporters.

(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)