Sign up for email newsletters
Sign up for email newsletters
A Mt. Pleasant woman driving home from work the other day was surprised enough to see a “sovereign citizen” license plate that she shot a picture.
That plate, on the back of a Ford SUV, stated “PRIVATE” and declared “no driver license or insurance required.”
While neither the Mt. Pleasant Police Department nor the Isabella County Sheriff’s Office has had contact with the particular vehicle, both are well aware of the movement, which declares that a “sovereign citizen” is exempt from all reaches of government.
In the vehicle photographed in Mt. Pleasant, a lone woman was driving.
“The woman driving had long acrylic nails and was gesticulating somewhat wildly with her left hand while talking seemingly on the phone or maybe to a passenger in the car, but it looked like she was alone,” the motorists who took the photo said.
Just weeks ago, city police received a notarized declaration of sovereign citizenship from a John T. Sexton, said Paul Lauria, director of the Mt. Pleasant Department of Public Safety.
“I am not a resident of any state under the 14th Amendment and hereby publicly disavow any contact, form, agreement application, certificate, license, permit or other document which I may have signed,” the declaration reads in part.
His document goes on in confusing language to declare his freedom from the government, to say he may have filed income taxes before but only mistakenly, and that anyone wanting to challenge his sovereignty should challenge him in an affidavit.
While local law enforcement hasn’t had contact with Sexton nor the Ford SUV photographed, and there is no indication they are related, officers are well aware of the movement.
“Occasionally we run across a person that affiliates with the sovereign citizen methodology. It would be handled like any other traffic stop for improper or no registration,” said Isabella Sheriff Mike Main.
More than likely, the sheriff said, the vehicle wouldn’t have insurance either.
“In most cases we are told they are traveling versus driving and that means they are not required to have the registration or insurance.”
Main said most officers would write tickets and attempt to avoid conflict by encouraging the motorist to challenge their issues in court.
“It can be difficult as most refuse to show ID, which is a requirement for the driver in this situation,” he said.
“Although there is discretion for each law enforcement officer, I would guess most would issue at minimum a citation for the violations and probably have the vehicle towed until proper paperwork can be obtained.”
Sexton, in claiming to be a sovereign citizen, is relying on conspiracy theories that the Souhern Poverty Law Center – a national organization that monitors hate groups and movements nationwide – says has evolved from old anti-government adherents with racist and anti-Semitic roots.
“The contemporary sovereign belief system is based on a decades-old conspiracy theory,” a SPLC overview says
“Sovereigns believe that the American government set up by the founding fathers, under a common-law legal system, was secretly replaced. They think the replacement government swapped common law for admiralty law, which is the law of the sea and international commerce.”
Neither Main nor Lauria had specific recent details of traffic stops or other contacts with sovereign citizen claimants.
We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.
Sign up for email newsletters