Reporter Adam Bosch of the Times Herald-Record promised yesterday that Ulster County denizens would want to pick up the paper this morning -- and he wasn't wrong. Today's big local story is a ripping yarn about three anti-government nuts who allegedly tried to roll the county, three towns, several public employees and a credit union for $1.24 trillion.
(Yep. That's "trillion.")
The bizarre plot came to light in April, when Ulster County and public workers brought a racketeering case against the alleged conspirators. The suit accused six people of intimidating government employees by sending them fraudulent bills and filing liens against their personal property, totaling $143 billion. Feds pegged the extortion plot at $1.24 trillion.
One of the three, Jeffrey Burfeindt, is currently missing; all three face mail fraud charges.
Regular readers of the Watershed Post might recognize the name of one of the three defendants: Richard Ulloa. Back in April, we posted a copy of the federal complaint against Ulloa in a story about his alleged fake-lien-filing.
From the Times Herald-Record again:
The men reportedly belong to a group called the Restore America Plan [click here to visit the group's website]. According to its website, the group doesn't believe in drivers' licenses, banks or birth certificates. It asks members to become "guardians of free republics."
Their scheme adopted similar anti-government, religious overtones. In their invoices, the men called local governments "fictions" of "private corporations." And Ulloa — who is defending himself in the racketeering case — signed each court paper with this salutation: "I pray to our Heavenly Father and not this court that justice be done."
Also, apologies to Moe Howard, but the THR's photo of defendant Ed Parenteau is a little uncanny.
Ed Parenteau
Separated at birth?
