Three Houston-area individuals accused of belonging to a sovereign-citizen group have been indicted in federal court on charges of falsely claiming to be diplomats of the “Moroccan Empire,” according to court records.
A federal grand jury last week returned indictments against Dominique McClue, Kendon Vaughn and Gaylord Hutchins, whom federal authorities say are part of a "sovereign citizen-type group" called the "Diadematis Morocco Illorum Prius Texas," federal court records state.
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None of the defendants had attorneys listed in federal court records as of Monday.
The Sovereign Citizen Movement, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, refers to a slew of groups in the United States who believe they "are not under the jurisdiction of the federal government and consider themselves exempt from U.S. law." Sovereign citizens don't believe in traditional forms of government identification. Because of that, groups under the sovereign citizen umbrella have often become entangled in legal conflicts, white collar crime, and in some cases, violent crime, according to the center. The federal government views sovereign citizens as an extremist, anti-government group.
McClue is charged with one count of conspiracy to make false claims of diplomatic immunity and three counts of falsely claiming to be a foreign diplomat. Vaughn and...
Three Houston-area individuals accused of belonging to a sovereign-citizen group have been indicted in federal court on charges of falsely claiming to be diplomats of the “Moroccan Empire,” accord...