Documentation of Two Armed Assaults on Lutz Community Radio By the United States Federal Government
Attorneys for the United States of America believe that it is justifiable to bring felony charges and incarcerate citizens who operate non-licensed micro-broadcast stations for the advancement of community affairs. They will carry out such actions without affording the individuals a hearing. The underlying rationale for such prosecutions is this: As a result of inherently limited range, operation of low-power stations amounts to inefficient use of the airwaves. Hence, no justification exists for licensing them. This page documents such reckless application of the American legal system as experienced by the author at the hands of government officials in the Tampa, Florida area. This incredible story begins with the only written communication I ever received from the FCC. The letter makes no claim that a judicial authority had authorized the FCC to shut down Lutz Community Radio. The FCC has no police power. It is an administrative agency. It must follow a strict set of rules. The one and only communication from the FCC carried no inherent authority. Nevertheless, the entire 2-1/2 year long federal government vendetta against one lone citizen is premised on this letter. I have been convicted of felony radio broadcasting, and the basis of such a life-destroying conviction is a single letter from a low-level administrative officer. The fundamental elements of due process of law are Notice and a right to a court Hearing. A simple parking ticket will advise you of your right to a court hearing. It is not possible to circumvent due process of law using legislative action. If the true intent of the FCC is to help prevent civil chaos, it should have applied for an civil hearing consistent with that goal. However, the FCC did not pursue a remedy that was harmonious with process of law. First the impotent letter arrived, next a deadly SWAT team. I was denied the right to challenge this malicious prosecution in court. Government officials in Tampa deprived me of Life, Liberty, and Property without a hearing. And a hearing provision was available to them in Section 401 of the FCC law. These public servants didn't use Section 401 and that demonstrated their contempt for the law, as well as our Bill of Rights. Five-thousand dollars worth of radio equipment was taken or destroyed by the FCC on March 7, 1996. But I was not ordered off the air. The FCC returned on November 19, 1997, and took $25,000 of my new equipment, and I was charged criminally. No hearing was afforded me prior to these actions! The criminal charges were calculated to create an illusion that I posed a danger to my community. There was never any danger posed to life or property as a result of my radio broadcasts. My intent was to protect life and property! The arrest of a man for an action which encompasses no danger is, in reality, a kidnapping. However, it is easy to manipulate the gullible masses. Faithful to their government masters, the masses assume any arrested man has done something terribly wrong. With adequate media exposure, such strategy is a very effective means of discrediting and demoralizing an opponent. Before the trial ever begins, slanted, front-page media reports guarantee the targeted individuals’ position is prejudiced. By the time official courtroom tampering of the jury is factored in, the outcome is predictable. My first hearing concerning license-free broadcasting took place after $30,000 worth of my radio equipment was taken or destroyed, after I was indicted, and most significantly, after the whole sordid affair was demonstrated repeatedly on television! Therefore, my first hearing took place before a fully prejudiced jury. The jury was ignorant of the law, as well as their right to judge it. I cannot consider them my peers. They were eager to please the court. "The jury's overriding responsibility is to stand between the accused and a potentially arbitrary or abusive government that is in command of the criminal sanction." United States v. Martin Linen Supply Co., 430 U.S. 564, 572-73 (1977). Please know that government officials routinely use the court system as a weapon to discourage movement toward reform. Ignorant, sheep-like juries assist the officials. When political dissidents are dragged through the courts, slanted media coverage is the rule of the day. The tactic is further intended to intimidate all citizens, so they might be less likely to complain about the noose of tyranny that tightens a little around their necks with each passing day. Additional details concerning this prosecution for radio broadcasting Prosecutor Ronald Tenpas' style of criminal indictment was a violation of the Bill of Rights, Article V. The Double Jeopardy clause says, "No person shall...be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb...". Even if we allow for Tenpas’ contempt for the Bill of Rights, only one of the 14 radio transmissions claimed in the indictment occurred after 8/24/97, which supports "misdemeanor" broadcasting only! It requires a vivid imagination, and an extremely wicked mind, to convert the non-profit, good-faith operation of one small, community-based radio station, into a 14 count felony indictment. Such charges constitute multiplicity. This form of prosecution is prohibited. It lends more credence to the supposition that government officials feel they are above the law. Almost as astonishing as the government’s failure to afford me a hearing, the March 7, 1996, equipment seizure was premised on error from the very beginning. Harmful error is evident in the supporting affidavit used by the FCC to obtain a warrant for the "arrest" of my radio equipment on March 7th. FCC agent Gerardo Daubar failed to make a measurement of my radio station's allegedly excessive signal strength level prior to the March 7th seizure. Daubar stated in his affidavit that he could hear the signal over his radio speaker when he was six miles from the station, and he thought that range was excessive. Agent Daubar assumed the signal he heard was my signal. He assumed the signal exceeded the legal level for unlicensed operation under 47 CFR, Sec. 15.239. He failed to make a specific, calculated measurement as mandated by 47 CFR, Sec. 15.239. Daubar’s affidavit also failed to clearly state any particular date that he may have heard the station. Therefore, Daubar’s information fails to constitute admissible evidence of unlawful broadcasting. His affidavit was opposed as defense five in my Answer to the March 7, 1996, equipment seizure. The court ignored this, along with a variety of other equally valid defenses I submitted. American courts mete out especially harsh, prejudicial treatment to citizens who litigate without an attorney. Sensing enormous public apathy as a green light, hate-filled government officials carry out outrageous, vindictive prosecutions against individuals who dare question their authority. My answer to the 1995 equipment seizure asserted 12 meritorious defenses. The defenses were supported by affidavit. The prosecutor failed to oppose the defenses within the required 30 days. After ignoring my request for summary judgement for over a year, the court inexplicably granted summary judgment to the FCC. The issues of fact and law which I had relied upon were never analyzed. On August 24, 1997, Judge Steven D. Merryday’s ruling made it official, I was to be permanently deprived of my property, without a hearing or an analysis of my defense. It is a violation of the Bill of Rights, Article V, to deprive an individual of his property without due process of law. At no time, however, did Judge Merryday order me off the air. Therefore, the broadcasts soon resumed. While the foregoing events were taking place, the following was also in the works: A station listener, Phil Kempin, contacted U.S. Congressman, Michael Bilirakis, in an effort to enlist his help in brokering a peaceful, civilized resolution to the problem. Mr. Bilirakis made a firm promise to initiate a congressional inquiry into the problems I had experienced with the FCC. Representative Michael Bilirakis then decided to break his promise. Bilirakis became a co-conspirator with the FCC, working against his constituents, as well as a betrayer to the constitutional principles of state sovereignty which we were standing for. As a result of Bilirakis’ broken promise, Lutz Community Radio was attacked a second time in 1997, and I was charged criminally. The pre-dawn strike on November 19, 1997, involved a helicopter equipped with a search light, a virtual sea of police cars, heavily armed men wearing black ski masks who sneaked through our neighbors’ yards with assault rifles, and even a battering ram for our front door. The television media was tipped off, so that my arrest and handcuffing could be broadcast all over the Tampa Bay area for days in order to generate prejudice against me. The attack so frightened my school-teacher wife, Cheryl, that she never menstruated again. To date, U.S. Congressman Michael Bilirakis has never expressed any regret for his willing complicity in this state-sponsored terrorism. At my 1997 trial for "criminal" broadcasting, other travesties were allowed. United States Assistant Attorney Ronald Tenpas relied upon the fact that a judgement was entered against my 1995 equipment claim. Tenpas said that because Judge Merryday rendered a judgement against my equipment claim on 8/24/97, I must have known from that point forward I was in violation of the law. Never mind the prosecution's case was based on a defective affidavit as previously described. Never mind Merryday didn't refute any of my defenses, nor did he order me off the air. The jury was instructed to believe that any radio transmission occurring after 8/24/97 was done with intent to violate the law. This is pure hogwash! My intent has always been to support and defend the law. The problem is I know the law is the word of God, backed by the Constitution for the United States of America. Most people no longer understand this. They accept virtually any new legal statute contrived by modern man to be on par with God's ancient law. Lutz Community Radio, although unable to qualify for an FCC license, did have the support of the people of Lutz, Florida. Previously, I believed that before charges could possibly be brought against me for operating the Christian Patriot format radio station, I would be served some form of legal process that would order me off the air. I viewed the court case of Stephen Dunifer, operator of Free Radio Berkeley, as an example of due process of law at work. The FCC Office in San Francisco applied for an injunction. Unfortunately, government officials in Tampa feel they are above the law. The result of their attitude is that I have never had the benefit of a civilized approach to the issue. As a matter of fact, I was never ordered off the air until after I was charged criminally, tried, convicted, and sentenced. The sentencing paperwork contained the first actual order by a judicial authority intended to restrict operation of the radio station. Now I have an order signed by a federal judge that abridges the free exercise of religious and political free speech, God-given freedoms protected by the Constitution. I am obeying that order, just as I had always planned to, should such conspicuous government repression materialize. If you don't yet see that in America we live under a tyranny, considering the following. Before Federal Judge Adams ordered me to stop exercising my First Amendment rights during my July 14, 1998, sentencing, the following describes the way the court temporarily restricted operation of the station. That is to say, the manner in which the government restricted station operation until a Constitutionally illiterate, brain-dead jury could volunteer to make it permanent. When I was arrested during the 1997 siege I was effectively made a prisoner of this information war. I was given the option of monitored release, if I signed a contract agreeing to refrain from broadcasting. I was also forced to agree not to attempt to use any legal process, whatsoever, to retrieve my equipment. I was told that if I broke any part of the "contract," not only would I be jailed immediately, our home would be seized by the federal government. That demand was a direct violation of the Constitution of the State of Florida, Article X, Sec. 4. Minus free agency, I "signed" the contract to gain my release. Tampa FCC Field Office, Engineer in Charge, Ralph M. Barlow, aided and abetted by a host of co-conspirators as noted, has done everything possible to destroy me, financially and otherwise. It did not matter that it was I who set up most of the monitoring equipment for the Tampa FCC Field Office just a couple of years earlier. When Mr. Barflow needed me to do work for him, he didn’t have any complaint with me or my performance. Because Barlow and I were on a first name basis as a result of our business relationship, my response to his 11/13/95 letter included a considerable amount of information concerning government corruption and media cover-ups. After all, revealing truth and uncovering corruption was the goal at Lutz Community Radio. At trial, Barlow stated under Oath that he never read my letter to him. Of course that was a lie. If he admitted reading it then the content of the letter would become relevant. Barlow's overall conduct speaks volumes about the character of a typical government agent. The reason I have been selectively prosecuted is not because the FCC was unable to provide me a license, but because of my personal beliefs. I know the government habitually operates outside the common law jurisdiction of the Constitution and I am appalled, even outraged about it. America was founded under the common law. The average American has no comprehension of the consequences which arise from this covert, ongoing suspension of the common law. The blame for that lack of comprehension can be placed squarely in the lap of major media. Mass ignorance of the general population is an open invitation for criminals within our government to ignore the few of us who care enough to educate ourselves concerning the great importance of honest, lawful money, and its companion - constitutional common law. I am concerned that most of the courts operate pursuant to a secret jurisdiction of law known to only a few "illuminated" individuals. Many legal researchers have arrived at the same conclusion and they share the same concern. The common law was a frequent subject of many programs that were broadcast on my radio station. Many of us conclude that today's law mostly involves international treaties, and the equity side of the Constitution (contracts). We, who hold convictions that the current system is fraudulent as a result of intentional deception, are prime targets for retribution by the government officials who benefit from the trickery. We are labeled "extremists" as a result of our defense of constitutional common law. This subject of the common law has relevance with respect to the malicious prosecution carried out against me. I was once an officer in a common law court. The Tampa common law court, and its counterparts in other cities, were started by citizens who sought to restore American common law. A growing number of Americans object to the fact that the original common law courts were quietly converted to a new form of blended law in the mid-1930s. And no degree of voting seems to correct the problem. Inaccurate and misleading media reports are mostly responsible for that. Most of the Tampa Common Law Court advocates got thrown into federal prison for their valiant efforts. Judge Merryday presided over those kangaroo proceedings as well. When a serious effort is made to defend Constitutional principles, people go to jail - count on it. I almost made the grade myself, as a result of my common law court activities. I am on a list of 174 common law court "unindicted co-conspirators". The list is referred to by the local media occasionally in an effort to assist the government in intimidating all citizens from conducting future common law initiatives. If it were not for my beliefs, which were reflected in the radio station content, why else would my station be singled out on two separate occasions? There where other micro-broadcast stations operating in Tampa on March 7, 1996, when I alone was attacked. By November 19, 1997, when I alone was arrested, there were no less than ten small, non-licensed stations on the air in the Tampa area. If there was not something special about me and my station, why do I have the distinction of being the only radio broadcaster in the history of America to be relegated to the status of a convicted felon? We, who have studied the Constitution, realize government agencies have avoided honoring our common law rights since the mid-1930's. Even FCC Commissioner, Michael Powell, recognizes the FCC subverts the Constitution, God bless him. The on-line transcripts of Mr. Powell's speeches indicates that he knows the FCC is not part of the government described in the U.S. Constitution! On September 13, 1982, the U.S. Congress violated the principle of State's rights when it revised the wording of 47 USC, Sec. 301, to mandate federal licensing of broadcast transmissions which are confined to one of the several States, and which do not create any substantive burden on interstate or foreign commerce. When commercial activity is confined within a state, with no substantive effect across state lines, it is to be regulated by that state. The non-Constitutional revision of Section 301 was to be the main subject of my Appeal. One day before the deadline to file the appeal brief, my attorney, Larry Becraft, decided to break our agreement, and not make the constitutional argument at all (11/22/98). We had an agreement that he would make three arguments, the most important one being the non-Constitutional revision of Sec. 301. He filed the brief minus the most important argument of all. Who or what do you suppose got to him? The following is a recap, along with my appraisal of the F.C.C., and the apparent goal of American "leadership" as it applies to our future freedoms:
The described perversions of law, carried out against one American citizen whose sole intention was to defend the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, doesn't stop here. Valid constitution-based defenses were mocked by the government's courts, in order to "get" another loyal American. I was indicted pursuant to 47 USC, Section 301 and 501, but those statutes have never been enacted into positive law, as required by 61 Statutes At Large, Section 101. Everything that has been done to me has been accomplished under color of law. Perpetuation of these atrocities relies upon the government's lap-dog media to keep the public permanently ignorant of the facts. The available evidence proves that, as currently structured, the FCC is a major criminal enterprise. A principle function of the FCC is to support and defend the Fourth and Sixth Plank of the Communist Manifesto. Legal purists may be interested in the following. In 1992, I filed documents declaring my preference to state Citizen status as opposed to federal citizen status. The Middle District of Florida has been amply noticed that I am a Citizen of the sovereign state of Florida. I no longer have any valid contracts with civil government. I am positively not a so-called Fourteenth Amendment "U.S. citizen." That class of citizenship was created by Congress in 1868, long after the Union was founded. The federal government knows very well that it lacks jurisdiction over me. However, these power hungry oppressors carefully measure the ignorance and apathy of the American people and find it to be of colossal proportions. Corrupt officials probably begin salivating when they realize it is possible to attack another knowledgeable, patriotic American, without risking recognition of the deed. Never, in my wildest imagination, did I foresee that my honest desire to help my community using radio could be converted into a felony - and without due process of law! I knew there were some very corrupt individuals in government, but I had no idea how bad it really is. The only thing that amazes me more is that the average American has just just stood by and watched, including most of my neighbors. Bear in mind that my tiny radio transmitter operated at a power level less than a common light bulb - too low a level to license, according to the FCC. Could you be next? Most career politicians are in office for one reason -- to control and manipulate the rest of us, and to get well rewarded for doing it. Maybe you will be converted into a criminal because you refuse to give up your guns, cigarettes, beer, Big Mac, or your vitamin supplements. If you don’t get educated and involved, it will eventually happen. Everything is not all right in America. Those who take meaningful action to defend our heritage of God-given, Constitutionally protected freedoms, are attacked. This does not bode well for the future, especially the future of your children. DOCUMENTATION LIST
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