On Sunday, the Times Herald-Record gave the front-page treatment to the notorious Richard Ulloa, a Stone Ridge resident who was convicted of orchestrating an elaborate paperwork harrassment scheme against government officials in December.
According to Adam Bosch, who dug through reams of paperwork and court documents to report the story, Ulloa and his two co-conspirators, Jeffrey Burfeindt and Ed Parenteau, are the Ulster County vanguard of a national movement of anti-government "sovereigns" who make counter-terrorism experts nervous. Here's how Bosch's report begins:
Authorities are keeping a watchful eye on a quiet but growing anti-government movement across the United States. Its members are known as sovereign citizens. Or "sovereigns," for short.
They believe governments are illegitimate and laws don't apply to them.
They use fake bills and property liens as weapons to terrorize police, lawmakers and banks.
They sometimes turn violent, killing cops in Arkansas or plotting to bomb buildings in Oklahoma.
And some of them operate here in the Hudson Valley.
The article reports that the Ulster County trio has several ties to the national sovereign movement, including, most disturbingly, an apparent connection to a man who shot and killed two Arkansas police officers during a traffic stop last year.
The story goes on to mention that local authorities seem most nervous about Ulloa, whose driveway, Bosch states, is lined with signs warning that trespassers will be shot. This has led local officials to take some unusual steps:
Employees at the Ulster County Government Office have been supplied with mugshots of Ulloa as a precaution. And Town of Ulster police released a bulletin earlier this month telling government workers to be watchful of Ulloa.
But there are two sides to every story, and Bosch manages to get a quote from Ulloa himself, who maintains that he would never use violence:
"We are a peaceful group, I am peaceful and not dangerous, like you guys make me out to be," Ulloa wrote. "I would NEVER EVER resort to ANY violence, never have and never will."
