TITLE 42 LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST MONROE COUNTY FOR DEPRIVATION OF CIVIL RIGHTS
by Sharon Rondeau
(May 18, 2012) — The Post & Email has received a letter from George Raudenbush, a Christian missionary who was arrested in December 2010, jailed, released, then tried for various traffic violations in Monroe County, TN in August 2011. Having been charged with seven driving violations, he was convicted on eight charges after a 15-hour trial, before which he was denied a defense attorney.
Walter Francis Fitzpatrick, III had attempted to observe Raudenbush’s trial last August but was unconstitutionally expelled from the courtroom and accused of having a recording device on his person which he had left in his vehicle. Fitzpatrick was threatened with arrest if he did not vacate the premises, and a sheriff’s deputy committed perjury suborned by Judge Carroll L. Ross. Deputies had also seized a pen from Raudenbush two days prior to his trial, claiming that it was “a recording device.”
In a telephone call from the Monroe County jail in January 2011, Raudenbush denied all of the charges brought against him and stated that the conditions in the jail were even worse than those which had been described by Fitzpatrick. The Post & Email was told approximately six weeks ago by a state official that an architect has drawn up plans to build a new jail facility, or “Justice Center,” but that no ground had been broken on the project at that time. The jail was placed under a “Plan of Action” which requires significant changes to be made in order to regain state certification or else face closure. The last inspection of the Monroe County jail was on June 7, 2011. The individual who performed the inspection is no longer employed by the TCI, the agency charged with overseeing jail and workhouse conditions throughout Tennessee.
Raudenbush and Walter Fitzpatrick had shared a jail cell for a time until Raudenbush was moved to a state facility. Like Fitzpatrick and Darren Huff, he has been labeled a “sovereign citizen” by the state of Tennessee, the FBI and the Department of Justice, which collaborated in producing a training program featuring photos of the three men and depicting them as lawbreakers.
Raudenbush had been beaten until he was nearly dead on May 18, 2006 and had told The Post & Email that he suspected that Monroe County Sheriff’s Department deputies had been the perpetrators, directly or indirectly. The Post & Email was unaware upon beginning the writing of this article that today is the six-year anniversary of the brutal attack.
Numerous Monroe County sheriff’s deputies have been accused of using brutality against the citizens they are charged with protecting, and over the last 18 months, 11 members of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department, including at least one detective and former chief jailer Trent Prock, have resigned or been fired.
Raudenbush is apparently considered a “sovereign citizen” because he allegedly did not possess a valid Tennessee driver’s license, vehicle registration and insurance at the time of his arrest. Raudenbush had told The Post & Email that he did.
In his recent letter, Raudenbush wrote, “The mission filed a Title 42 complaint in U.S. District Court against Sheriff Bill Bivens and Monroe County.” He continued:
Steve Merritt filed a Title 42 complaint in U.S. District Court on Dec. 30, 2011 against Bill Bivens, Monroe Co., Southern Health Care Partners and Tellico Plains City. Case #3:11-cv-625 on my behalf for false arrest + malicious prosecution. (U.S. District Court Knoxville) A total of three U.S. complaints have been filed in federal court on my behalf since Sheriff Bill Bivens retailated [sic] against the Christian work I perform in the community.
A short story is being published about my experience in Monroe County I will have a copy forwarded to you as soon as it is finished, upon your request. [sic]
The text on the above slide section reads:
What Do They Believe?
Embassy of Heaven Encounter:
Early 2011, Tellico Plains PD officer stops George Raudenbush for speeding.
Raudenbush had a fraudulent plate and handed the officer fraudulent documents.
Raudenbush failed to comply and fled in his car striking two Monroe County Deputies cars. [sic]
Later in his letter, Raudenbush stated:
No one that receives a class D evading arrest in Monroe County ever gets a jail sentence. [sic] It is always a fine and probation. I received 4 years in prison for a first time offense.
Many lies have been told unfortunityly. [sic] I pray God will show + reveal the truth to you as documents have been forged and many lies have been told to confuse the real issues. A tatic [sic] Satan is very well skilled at. [sic]
Someone familiar with the “sovereign citizen” DVD and Raudenbush stated:
The sovereign citizen, in the pejorative, radicals have stigmatized the constitutional intent of the classification.
Every citizen of the United States is a sovereign in the state they were born in with full reciprocity in any state they are resident in, end of story. The non-violent “sovereign citizen”, such as George Raudenbush, take it a step further into the law of the Constitution and attempt to extract archaic meaning of the original intent of the Constitution, right or wrong. Those who take it to the extreme and resort to violence have caused every one who challenges the “government”, for whatever reason, to be branded/stigmatized as violent sovereign citizens, as seen in the sovereign citizen training DVD.
Raudenbush is in the same facility as Todd Sweet and can be reached at:
George Raudenbush 494809
SCCF
P.O. Box 279
Clifton, TN 38425