U.S. Acts Against Palmdale Woman Linked to Freemen

Federal officials Wednesday sought an injunction against a Palmdale woman with ties to the Montana freemen one day after the FBI searched a hotel where she was holding a seminar to teach citizens how to write their own checks.

On Monday--the day federal agents in Montana raided the freemen’s ranch--FBI agents searched Mary Elizabeth Broderick’s house and confiscated a computer, computer discs and rifles, Broderick’s husband, Richard, told reporters. On Tuesday, agents searched rooms in The Essex House Hotel, where Broderick held a seminar, and the rooms of some seminar participants, said the hotel’s attorney, Dawn Reichman.

Wednesday, the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles filed a noncriminal complaint against Broderick and up to 22 alleged accomplices, seeking to bar Broderick from issuing allegedly worthless checks, of the kind promoted by Montana Freeman LeRoy Schweitzer. Broderick and Schweitzer call them “warrants” backed by millions of dollars the government owes the public.

More than $30 million in such checks have been received by the government, court documents allege. A federal judge in Los Angeles is scheduled to hear the matter on Monday.

According to the injunction request, the checks Broderick has promoted to as many as 500 participants in each of her seminars bear images of the American Flag and Statue of Liberty and the words: “Treasurer of the United States of America . . . Redeemable at Office of Postmaster . . . Payable on Sight.”

Broderick held the latest seminar Sunday and Monday at The Essex House. On Tuesday, FBI agents spent several hours searching the hotel, where seminar participants had a “whole block of rooms,” Reichman said, stressing that the hotel does not endorse Broderick’s teachings.