Police arrest woman charged in sovereign citizen plot

The Anniston Star, Alabama/September 4, 2014

By Eddie Burkhalter

Police on Wednesday arrested a woman charged with attempting to steal more than $1 million from Oxford businesses earlier this month.

Miriam Claire Shultz, 67, was arrested in Scottsboro and was being held in the Calhoun County Jail Thursday.

Shultz and her common-law husband, Everett Leon Stout, 72, who was arrested Aug. 28, are both charged with attempted theft of property, one count of first-degree extortion and 13 counts of attempted extortion.

Both are members of the sovereign citizens’ movement, Oxford police Chief Bill Partridge told The Star Friday. Partridge described the movement as anti-government, in which members file erroneous court documents and believe many U. S. laws do not apply to them.

Both arrests are the result of a two-week undercover investigation by the Oxford police, the FBI and the Calhoun County District Attorney’s Office.

Stout and Shultz attempted to buy a $300,000 recreational vehicle from Dandy RV in Oxford by paying with a fraudulent check, Partridge said. The couple also filed fictitious liens against 13 other local businesses and demanded money in exchange for dropping those liens, Partridge said. In total, the couple tried to extort $ 1.6 million from those businesses, he said.

It was not clear Thursday when Shultz and Stout are expected to appear in court.

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