On June 19 at 7 p.m., officers were called to a house in the 4900 block of Olympia Place in Waldorf after witnesses observed unusual activity. When officers arrived, they learned the house was owned by a bank and should have been vacant.
Instead, officers found seven people living inside. The occupants said they were sovereign citizens and they claimed they had the right to “occupy” the house since it was vacant.
The suspects, Lamont Butler, 29; Artez Womack, 28; Kenneth Mitchell, Jr., 19; Rashid Daniels, 25; Lashonda Washington,28; Sakita Holly, 34; and Tia Carpenter, 46, were arrested and charged with burglary.
In addition, Carpenter was charged with assaulting an officer after she bit him in the arm as he was placing her under arrest.
Law enforcement agencies across the country have been dealing with people claiming sovereign citizen ideology for years. Basically, sovereign citizens are people who possess strong anti-federal government views.
They often do not recognize laws pertaining to paying taxes, registering motor vehicles and having proper identification. Two of the suspects in this case were recently charged in Montgomery County for breaking into a vacant house and claiming sovereignty there; they posted bond in that case and are awaiting trial.
The CCSO cares about our communities and neighborhoods. Anyone who suspects a house has been broken into by similar groups claiming to be sovereign citizens is asked not to confront them but to call the CCSO instead.
Officers assigned to Patrol Operations and detectives assigned to the Criminal Investigations Division are continuing the investigation.
