‘Freemen’-Style Group Targeting O.C. Judges

A radical anti-government group in Orange County with ties to the Montana “freemen” has attracted the attention of the FBI and local law enforcement officials who have issued a quiet warning to local judges who appear to have become the group’s targets.

Top law enforcement officials confirmed that a multi-agency team of investigators is looking into the activities of members of a Garden Grove-based group calling themselves Our One Supreme Court.

The group came to the attention of investigators after its leaders recently notified Fullerton Municipal Judge Luis A. Rodriguez that they planned to conduct a “common law court session” to determine whether he has the right to sit as a judge.

“They . . . advised the judge that he would be subject to whatever justice their court determines,” according to an internal memorandum prepared by the Judges Protection Unit of the Orange County Marshal’s Department.

A confidential memo that the marshal’s office sent to the FBI and to three other federal law enforcement agencies, as well as to the Orange County district attorney’s office and Sheriff’s Department, said the Orange County group has also mysteriously targeted at least nine other local judges, about whom they are gathering information.

“At this point, we have not identified a common link to any one case or issue” that would explain why the 10 judges are being singled out for possible harassment or worse by the local anti-government activists, the memo states.

The group appears to be one of several dozen freemen-like groups that have sprung up across the country during the last year.

It is not uncommon for these groups to conduct trials and issue their own “indictments” against judges, police officers and other public officials.

But local law enforcement officials say the Orange County group appears to be more militant than some that have sprouted up elsewhere.

“Profiles of [the Orange County ] chapter’s leaders indicate that some are aggressive, have weapons and [have previously been brought up on] assault charges, and seem willing to take on the court system openly,” states the marshal’s memo, a copy of which was obtained by The Times.

None of the leaders were identified in the memo, and the marshal’s office, while verifying the authenticity of its memorandum, declined to provide additional details.

The memo noted that federal investigators are warning local law enforcement officials to be prepared for a “backlash” if federal or state authorities attempt to subdue by force the anti-government freemen who have been in a months-long standoff with FBI agents in Montana.

Using a tactic of the Montana freemen, about 30 members of the Orange County group have also paid their property taxes with bogus checks. The group has about 100 members, investigators said.

Some of the checks sent to the county tax assessor-collector’s office were signed “LeRoy Schweitzer,” the name of one prominent figure in the Montana group who was arrested in March on suspicion of bank fraud.

His arrest helped trigger the standoff between the Montana freemen and federal authorities.

Mirroring another freemen practice, the Orange County group has sought to file liens in the Orange County recorder’s office against properties of unsuspecting county residents, so that they might use the bogus assets to raise money.

It has become a routine practice for so-called “common law court” followers to slap liens on the property of judges and prosecutors handling cases against their members.

Investigators said the group’s members had recently sought property records of the 10 Orange County judges.

Another name signed to the bogus Orange County checks was “Elizabeth Broderick,” the name of a woman who has also been linked to the Montana freemen. Broderick was arrested in Palmdale late last month on suspicion of fraudulently taking $1.5 million. She was alleged to have organized seminars at which she promoted the use of homemade checks, supposedly backed by liens against government officials.

Orange County investigators have provided County Clerk-Recorder Gary L. Granville’s office a list of about 90 reputed members of Our One Supreme Court, asking that his staff be instructed to be on the lookout for improper liens placed against other people’s properties.

Granville told The Times that he was cooperating with authorities, noting that some staff members were verbally abused when they refused to accept the improper liens.

“These filings are of concern to me, but we have instructed our staff not to endanger themselves should a situation become testy,” he said.

Local authorities have been tight-lipped about the Orange County investigation.

Chief Assistant Dist. Atty. Maury L. Evans said he could only say that “our position at this time is to monitor this organization with the help of other law enforcement agencies. It’s definitely an organization we are interested in.”

A lieutenant with the marshal’s office, who spoke on the condition that his name not be used, would only say of the memo that “we take threats against judges very seriously.”

Law enforcement sources said investigators have not determined why the group singled out Judge Rodriguez when it demanded that he respond to charges that he no longer has the right to sit on the bench. The group also accused Rodriguez of not filing a performance bond, which is required of public officials.

This same memorandum also names nine other local judges, and suggests that local prosecutors and La Habra police officers have been targeted by the group.

The judges are: William P. Hopkins, Martin Hairabedian Jr., Roger B. Robbins, John W. McOwen, Claude E. Whitney, Gregory H. Lewis, Charles Margines, John C. Woolley and Superior Court Commissioner Thomas H. Schulte.

Rodriguez declined to talk about the matter, referring The Times to Fullerton Municipal Court Administrator William Brennan, who described the matter as “a sensitive issue that has caused a general level of concern in the community of judges.”

While Rodriguez “does not wish to give the group the impression that he is jumping through hoops,” the marshal’s memo said, “he may decide to provide them with copies of his oath of office and performance bonds.”

A judge, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said local judges have observed an increase in the number of cases involving members of anti-government groups who relinquish their U.S. citizenship, tossing away their drivers’ licenses and insurance, passports and Social Security cards.

At common-law court hearings, such as the ones held by the Orange County group at its office suite on Brookhurst Street in Garden Grove, members apply for “quiet title” declarations, under which the court’s petitioners expect to liberate themselves from the yoke of government.

“They refuse to be part of any paper trail,” the judge said.

Because of their defiant position on driving without a valid license, they find themselves “in a head-on collision with the judicial system,” a marshal’s official said.

One recent case involved a South County resident arrested on suspicion of driving away from the Municipal Court in Laguna Niguel only minutes after a judge ordered him to cease driving without a valid license.

The man, 52-year-old Ronald Edward Lutz, insisted that he is allowed to drive without a license. In an often-rambling document he filed in court, Lutz said he is “not a statutory citizen of the U.S.” and has no obligation to the state or the country to abide by licensing requirements.

“The DMV does not own the highway, the people do,” Lutz proclaimed, arguing that the driver’s license requirement violates his right to privacy and the “inalienable right to private, noncommercial travel.”

A jury disagreed, taking just 34 minutes to find Lutz guilty of a misdemeanor count of violating a court order. Lutz, who was sentenced to 75 days in jail, is appealing.

Times staff writer Rene Lynch contributed to this report.