have fled back to their Spokane area origins.
March 21, Alabama: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals unanimously affirms the capital murder conviction of a "patriot,"
George Sibley, Jr., found guilty in the 1993 shooting death of an Opelika police officer. His common-law wife, Linda Lyon
Block, is also on death row for the same offense.
March 25, North Carolina: Dunn, North Carolina, resident Arvalee McLamb is fined $5,000 and sentenced to five months in
prison after pleading guilty to failing to file a federal income tax return. McLamb had ties to the Montana Freemen; he is also
charged in a federal indictment of various crimes committed in connection with James Vincent Wells and Montana Freeman
Russell Landers. McLamb and Wells belonged to an extremist group innocuously called 'The Civil Rights Task Force."
March 25, Kansas: Two Kansas residents are convicted in Tulsa for passing Montana Freemen checks. Bill and Karen
Hanzlicek were found guilty of conspiracy, bank fraud, mail fraud and passing a counterfeit check.
March 26, Florida: In Stuart, Florida, John Foster, is charged with obtaining $662,000 in bogus checks from the Montana
Freemen and using them to pay off the IRS and his mortgage company.
March 26, Ohio: In Columbus, Ohio, common law court activist Larry Russell is found guilty of escape and sentenced to 1 S
years in prison. He fled Ohio following a failed attempt to arrest him for driving without a license, after which he was charged
with assaulting a police officer and escape, but was arrested at the Alaska border and extradited.
March 27, Nevada: Nevada militia man Harry Tootle is convicted on charges of drawing a gun on a security guard, then
resisting arrest.
March 27, Arkansas, Missouri: Arkansas citizen Robert Joos is convicted of resisting arrest and carrying a concealed
weapon during a confrontation with Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers in 1994. The troopers were attempting to arrest
him near his church commune (the "Sacerdotal Order of the David Company") in connection with a 1987 misdemeanor
conviction involving a false court summons served to a trooper. Law enforcement authorities are still searching for Timothy
Thomas Coombs, wanted for shooting and seriously wounding a state trooper in retaliation for Joos' arrest.
March 29, South Carolina, Oregon: In Anderson, SC, Embassy of Heaven member Frank Lewis stages a seven day hunger
strike when arrested for driving without a license and operating an uninsured vehicle. This is one of many hunger strikes
staged by members of the group, which preaches against all forms of government interference. The Embassy of Heaven
issues fake drivers licenses, plates, and registrations for its members; these are purchased by people all over the country. In
late winter, Embassy of Heaven members are evicted from their "church" in Sublimity, Oregon, for nonpayment of county
taxes.
March 30, Michigan: Kalamazoo, Michigan, militia member Brendon Blasz is arrested and indicted on suspicion of making
pipe bombs and other illegal explosives. Blasz and his "small militia band" planned to bomb the federal building in Battle
Creek, an IRS building, a television station and federal armies, according to an affidavit by an informant. The Michigan
Militia claims to have expelled them in 1995.
APRIL
April 2, Washington, Idaho: The jury hearing Spokane bank bandits case convicts the three defendants on illegal weapons
charges and stolen vehicle charges, but deadlocks on the more serious bank robbery and bombing charges when a sole
jury member, sympathetic to the right-wing extremists, refuses to convict.
April 3, California: A Berkeley, California, woman, Mary Margaret Lund, is convicted of using bogus checks to purchase a
motorhome in January 1996. She passed more than $223,000 worth of bad checks.
April 5, Montana: Fourteen of the infamous "Montana Freemen" are hit with a 40-count indictment that will take the place of
earlier indictments against them. Charges include multiple counts of conspiracy bank fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, false
claims, threats to public officials and weapons charges. A second indictment charges eight people with helping fugitives
escape arrest.
April 7, Washington: Gary Kuehnol, one of the seven Washington militia/freemen charged with conspiracy (see above),
pleads guilty to a charge of transferring a machine gun to a federal informer. He will not face new conspiracy charges as a
result of the agreement. Another participant, Caitlin Hansen, earlier pled guilty to obstruction of justice and was sentenced to
three years of probation. Six still await a new trial.
April 8, Montana: Pre-trial hearings begin for the Montana Freemen.
April 8, Washington: A Clark County, Washington, motorist is arrested with 2 loaded handguns, a bogus license plate, and a
concealed weapons "permit" issued by the "State Militia." Jed Carson was cited on suspicion of operating a vehicle with