Man Arrested After Defying IRS Seizure of Business, Officials Say
A Fontana man was arrested Tuesday for allegedly breaking into his Hemet business and operating it after the Internal Revenue Service shut him down for failing to pay $123,040 in taxes.
Ernest P. DeTomaso, 54, is charged with one count of forceful rescue of seized property, said Assistant U.S. Atty. John Hueston.
The IRS padlocked DeTomaso’s “Coin Shack” after he failed to pay the taxes, the prosecutor said.
According to a federal grand jury indictment, the coin dealer broke into his store, reopened it and went back to business as usual. DeTomaso sued the IRS today for access to his administrative files.
The Fontana man, who describes himself as “one of the sovereign people of the state of California,” claims the IRS has “certain agency records relating to his tax activities which are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974.”
In his three-page complaint, DeTomaso said he sent a letter to the IRS requesting access to his personal file. He claims the IRS replied by saying it needed 30 days to find the file, then informed him the records were at “another agency location” and that his request would be forwarded.
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