U.S. Files for Injunction Against Palmdale Woman
Federal officials sought an injunction Wednesday against a Palmdale woman with ties to the Montana “freemen” one day after the FBI searched a hotel where she was holding a seminar.
On Monday--the day federal agents in Montana raided the “freemen’s” ranch--FBI agents searched Mary Elizabeth Broderick’s house and confiscated a computer, computer discs and rifles, Broderick’s husband, Richard, told reporters. On Tuesday, agents searched rooms in the Essex House Hotel, where Broderick held a seminar, and the rooms of some seminar participants.
On Wednesday, the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles filed a noncriminal complaint against Broderick and up to 22 alleged accomplices, seeking to bar her from issuing allegedly worthless checks of the kind promoted by LeRoy Schweitzer. Broderick and Schweitzer call them “warrants” backed by millions of dollars the government owes the public.
More than $30 million in such checks have been received by the government, court documents allege. A federal judge in Los Angeles is scheduled to hear the matter on Monday.
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