Chicago resident David Farr was sentenced to 14 years in prison Wednesday for squatting in abandoned properties and renting them out to tenants. According to DNAInfo, Farr and his associates would change locks and post “No Trespassing” signs.
Yeah, seems pretty illegal!
However, Farr’s reason for why what he did wasn’t illegal is pretty great. From DNAInfo:
Prosecutors during the trial said that Moore and Farr consider themselves Sovereigns or Moors and thus do not recognize the U.S. government. As a part of this belief, they also think banks should not be allowed to own homes.
That’s one way to defend yourself. However, the U.S. government doesn’t really care if you don’t recognize them.
The Sovereign Citizens Movement is pretty insane. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, notes that it began as an anti-Semitic and racist group, but that “many of whom are African American, are unaware of their beliefs’ origins.”
The strange subculture of the sovereign citizens movement, whose adherents hold truly bizarre, complex antigovernment beliefs, has been growing at a fast pace since the late 2000s. Sovereigns believe that they get to decide which laws to obey and which to ignore, and they don’t think they should have to pay taxes.
As Farr learned, that’s not really how it works.
[DNAInfo]
