Most of what you've read online about IRS problems is wrong, or at least misleading. I'm Darrin Mish. I practice tax law in Tampa and I've been doing this for 32 years. Here's what's actually true.<\/p>\n
A couple from Alaska was charged with possession of firearms gathered with the intent to murder a federal judge, his family and an IRA employee over $165,000 in unpaid taxes. \u00a0Lonnie and Karen Vernon amassed a cache of weapons that included a machine gun, a silenced firearm and grenades. \u00a0In addition to this couple, several other members of the local military group were also charged with helping them gather the weapons.
\nLonnie was earlier indicted on a charge of threatening to kill US District Judge Ralph Beistline and a family member. \u00a0Citizen militia leader Francis Schaeffer Cox from Fairbanks and Coleman Barney of North Pole were also charged along with Lonnie Vernon in a separate federal indictment alleging the three conspired to possess unregistered grenades and silencers. \u00a0Cox also faces a charge of possessing an illegal machine gun and silencer.
\nFor the last two years or so, the Vernons have been disputing their income taxes, penalties and interest of more than $165,000 that the IRS says they owe. The IRS filed tax liens on their home in Salcha, located along the Richardson Highway about 40 miles south of Fairbanks<\/a>. \u00a0In addition, the IRS sued to foreclose on the property and auction it off to pay the taxes the Vernons owe in July 2009. \u00a0It was Judge Beistline who presided over the Vernons\u2019 case. \u00a0According to the federal indictment, Lonnie Vernon threatened to murder Judge Beistline and a family member over the judge\u2019s ruling in his case.
\nCox is the founder of the Second Amendment Task Force and the Alaska Peacekeepers Militia. \u00a0These organizations propose that all individuals are sovereign citizens and the government has no authority over them.
\nIn March last year, Cox was charged with weapons misconduct for possession of an arsenal of weapons that included an automatic assault rifle, military-issue pineapple grenades and black powder grenades, a tripod-mounted, belt-fed .50-caliber gun, a tripod-mounted .30-caliber machine gun, a grenade launcher, dozens of rifles and pistols, and thousands of rounds of ammunition. \u00a0Among Cox\u2019s alleged targets were Superior Court Judge Michael McConahy and at least two troopers. \u00a0In a pretrial hearing in December, Cox represented himself and denied the Alaskan court as legitimate.
\nAccording to federal prosecutors, Cox had a few meetings with the commanders of the Peacekeepers Militia that include the Vernons and Barney in the weeks leading up to his trial date.
\nIf convicted of the federal murder conspiracy charge, the Vernons could be imprisoned for life.<\/p>\n