ADL Testifies in “Sovereign Citizen” Trial in San Bernardino County

  • December 8, 2015

Update: Stefan Ricardo Mahaley was sentenced on May 9, 2016, to 25 years state prison.

Anti-Defamation League’s California Investigative Researcher Joanna Mendelson assisted San Bernardino prosecutors with expert witness testimony on November 19 and November 23, 2015, in the case of People vs. Mahaley. Stefan Ricardo Mahaley, accused of using sovereign citizen tactics in an attempt to illegally seize a house that had once formerly belonged to him, was charged with four counts of forgery, four counts of fraudulent filings, identity theft and burglary.

Prosecutor Vance Welch of the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s office requested the ADL expert to explain to the jury key elements of the sovereign citizen ideology.  Sovereign citizens believe that a conspiracy has infiltrated and subverted virtually all government in the United States and claim that government has no authority or jurisdiction over them.  Additionally, they assert that, since the United States abandoned the gold standard, paper money has no value and debts such as mortgages can be discharged with bogus financial instruments.  Those subscribing to this belief often use “paper terrorism” harassment and intimidation tactics against government officials and others who try to thwart them.

Defendant Mahaley was accused of falsely deeding his foreclosed property back to himself, paying off his mortgage with bogus promissory notes and filing a number of false documents with the county recorder’s office in May 2012. The San Bernardino jury convicted Mahaley on December 7 on all counts and allegations and will be sentenced on January 6, 2016, by San Bernardino Superior Court Judge William Jefferson Powell and could face up to 20 years.

The Anti-Defamation League is the leading organization in the United States tracking the sovereign citizen movement and providing training and expert advice to law enforcement officers, prosecutors and public officials in California and elsewhere trying to deal with the problems that this extreme movement causes.