Thomas Deegan

There’s something happening here
What it is ain’t exactly clear
There’s a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware.

Except for the fact that it is now clear to anyone paying any attention that there are some very very angry people out there who claim to love America at the same time they hate everything that makes the USA the best it can be under trying circumstances. (Looking at you Cliven Bundy fans!)

Wednesday, September 23, Thomas David Deegan of Mineral Wells, WV, was arrested and charged with threatening to commit a terrorist act. He is now being held on a $300,000 cash only bond.

WOOD COUNTY, W. Va. — A Wood County man is behind bars on a state charge of threatening to commit a terrorist act for allegedly plotting to overthrow West Virginia’s state government by targeting the State Capitol, State Police headquarters, the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department and West Virginia National Guard facilities in Kanawha County.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Wood County Magistrate Court, Thomas David Deegan, 39, of Mineral Wells, a self-proclaimed sovereign citizen, lead several conference calls earlier this month focused on a plot to remove “multiple West Virginia government leaders from their office in Charleston.”

Plans called for members of the sovereign citizen movement, made up of people with anti-government views, to take over West Virginia’s government on Sept. 24 and use it as a foothold for the sovereign movement to “take back the United States,” according to the complaint.

More: WV MetroNews - Wood County Man Charged With Plotting to Overthrow State Government

But there is so much more to this sad story.

…on February 28, 2010, while living with his mother, Thomas Deegan called a crisis hotline and threatened to commit suicide. (ECF No. 1 at 2-3, ¶ 5.) When law enforcement officials responded to the plaintiffs’ home, they found what the Complaint describes as a “small indoor hydroponics natural herb garden growing with the herb Cannabis sativa L” (i.e., marijuana) (Id. at 3, ¶ 7.) The plaintiffs’ Complaint alleges that the marijuana was “for personal, private natural medicine use only.” (Id.) A search warrant was obtained and 63 marijuana plants were removed from the house. (Id.) Both of the plaintiffs were charged with one count of manufacturing a controlled substance and one count of conspiracy to manufacture a controlled substance.

snip

3.) At a hearing conducted on February 21, 2012, Mr. Deegan informed the court that he was withdrawing a number of motions that he had filed. (Id.) At that time, Judge Reed addressed the fact that a Notice of Removal had been filed by the defendants to remove the case to an “Ecclesiastical Court of Justice” in Pennsylvania. Judge Reed noted, however, that the “Ecclesiastical Court of Justice” was not a recognized entity, and set the case for trial on February 29, 2012. (Id.)

Mrs. Deegan appeared in the Wood County Circuit Court on February 29, 2012, and entered a guilty plea, pursuant to a plea agreement, to misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance greater than 15 grams, and the conspiracy charge against her was dismissed. (Id. at 3.) A sentencing hearing was to be subsequently scheduled. However, Mr. Deegan failed to appear for trial as scheduled. (Id.) His bond was revoked and a capias was issued. (Id.) To the undersigned’s knowledge, Mr. Deegan is still a fugitive.

The crux of the plaintiffs’ civil Complaint is that their criminal case should be “removed” to the “Ecclesiastical Court of Justice” in Pennsylvania, because this case:

has everything to do with the Rights of the Christian Religion, the faith and the Commandments of God, the Grace and forgiveness through the Atonement Blood of Jesus Christ, who died on the cross, forgiving all who confess and are baptized in his name for the forgiveness of their sins from man-made laws, upon repentance, and the healing of physical health, disease, pain infirmities, afflictions which are sole and exclusive issues in the venue of Jesus Christ alone the great Healer of the Christian religion. Officers from CIRCUIT COURT OF WOOD COUNTY CORPORATION refused to relinquish the commercial monetary interests of this case to the Ecclesiastical Court of Justice, Pennsylvania.

(ECF No. 1 at 3-4.) The plaintiffs appear to be alleging that the various defendants have denied the plaintiff’s constitutional right to the free exercise of their religion, as safeguarded under the First Amendment, in bringing the criminal charges and in failing to allow removal of the cases to this “religious” court. The plaintiffs also cite to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb, and Public Law 97-280, in which the plaintiff’s assert that Congress declared that “the Bible is the Word of God.” (ECF No. 1 at 4-5.) The plaintiffs’ Complaint also invokes 42 U.S.C. §§ 1985 and 1986, statutes prohibiting a conspiracy to interfere with civil rights that have only been held to apply in cases involving members of a protected class, such as those based on race or sex, and concerning the alleged denial of equal protection of the laws or equal privileges and immunities under the laws. The plaintiffs’ Complaint fails to allege how these code sections are applicable to their cases.

leagle.com FDCO 20120525C81/DEEGAN v. STATE

And there is another sovereign citizen lawsuit!

Deegan, along with two other individuals, including former 3rd party political candidate Phil Hudok, filed a complaint with the West Virginia Supreme Court earlier this year, and amended September 4, accusing several state and federal officials of various crimes.

Mr. Hudok was a 2014 Constitution Party candidate seeking election to the U.S. Senate from West Virginia and lost the general election on November 4, 2014. He also ran unsuccessfully as a Constitution Party candidate for Governor of West Virginia in the 2012 elections.

The complaint filed with the WV Supreme Court involves a not surprising conspiracy theory that is rampant amongst the sovereign citizen movement:

Hudok said the lawsuit stems from events that began nearly 20 years ago in which he voiced concerns regarding new facial imaging on government issued driver’s licenses and identification cards.

“It started back in 1999 when a number of people, including myself, decided we couldn’t submit to the biometric driver’s license,” Hudok said. “We negotiated with the governor and the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) from 1999 until 2008 and we drove without a driver’s license because we didn’t want our (faces mapped) and we felt that was an invasion of our right, our religious rights and everything.

“Governor Manchin accommodated us and we drove for a while with a non-biometric driver’s license. He instructed the DMV to accommodate us so we probably had the only non-real ID government compliancy,” Hudok continued. “Then that was rescinded by Tomblin’s administration without even notifying us so we contacted Patrick Morrisey with a number of concerns.”

Hudok cited that the three individuals were against being required to have to provide a “facial print” as it is against their religious beliefs.

“You go to the DMV, they have a sign up that your fingerprint is optional. What they don’t tell you is that they are taking a fingerprint of your face. That’s going into INTERPOL, an international criminal database,” Hudok said. “Germany, Russia, China, they can identify you just as you walk down the street, not what you touch. You see how much more invasive the facial print is than the fingerprint? We believe it’s very religiously significant too because you are surrendering your uniqueness to the state.”

I first heard whispers of the September 24 takeover of WV government early last week. Today I found a transcript of the call-in program where Mr. Deegan called for militias and Oath Keepers to get on-board and take this country back.

Here’s a sample of the wingnuttiness:

TD: What I am going to tell you is happening on an international level. The entire world is under a threat of conquest right now - so there are no rules, there are no laws. Everyone is vying for territory and control of custody of the Cestui que Vie Accounts. accounts. That is why you see refugees going to other places. They are being transferred to other territories. This is what’s happening. When the Pope leaves the UN it’s done. After that you will have a very hard time getting your country back.

So we are on a very limited time-span here. Documents are being drawn for the entire nation. The soil needs to be maintained and controlled. That is the only way to do it — through the Doctrine of Conquest. It can be done on paper, but if they can test us on the soil you have to be able to maintain it. I think that is why a lot of you are here right now — is so we can control the soil of this country — and that is every state.

Each person on this Earth at birth is worth $50,000 in gold and that is paid for out of the Vatican. Every refugee you see being transferred is worth $50,000 in gold. That is put up under a bond that is hypothicated 20 -40- 1000 times into a Cestui que Vie account. That is what they are going after — the territory and the Cestui que Vie account.

It gets even more insane after that at the link.

In the interest of fair reporting, I will include this link from a militia site in its entirety:

9-21-15: The West Virginia Operation

Within the last week no fewer than five members of WRAM posted links on WRAM regarding a proposed or planned so-called “militia action” to support the unauthorized removal of certain officials in the state of West Virginia. Militia members, Oath Keepers, and other organizations were urged to assemble in West Virginia to provide an armed force to prevent/stop any interference from officials and law enforcement.

All of the posts were removed, and the posters suspended, pending a review of their actions with regard to WRAM’s Terms of Service and the Terms of Service of Ning, our service provider. After a review of the TOS, as well as various applicable laws, the members were reinstated but the posts were not. A summary of the findings included:

a) The proposed operation clearly appears to be, by definition, an armed insurrection, an illegal and unlawful act against duly elected officials. (Ironically, helping local and state officials defend against rebellions and insurrections is one of the constitutionally authorized duties of the militia!)

b) Any shared plans and associated actions in furtherance of a criminal act is, itself, a crime of conspiracy committed by both the originators of the plan and those who would travel to West Virginia to heap them.

c) Under federal RICO statutes, (Organized Crime), anyone, whether individual or group, who crosses state lines to commit an illegal or unlawful act in another state is guilty of a federal offense. (I’m also reasonably certain that doing so with firearms might be a separate violation of some firearms act.)

d) Finally, by merely posting information in furtherance of an attempt to recruit others to commit illegal acts, the crime of “incitement or inciting” to commit insurrection or other crimes may have been committed, as well. If I had allowed these posts to remain and not removed them at the earliest possible time, the posters and myself may have been considered complicit in that illegal act.

Fellow Patriots, we all share a passionate desire to be rid of the would-be oppressors that permeate our country today. But we must do so in a lawful manner consistent with the those principles and documents we hold so dear. Please, before posting, look at the bigger picture and act accordingly.

There’s more, but I realize this post has already gotten TL:DR. To those who read to the end, thank you.