NEBRASKA – A member of the so-called sovereign citizen group, “Republic for the United States of America” was found guilty Friday of conspiring to retaliate against federal officials by filing false liens against a federal judge and other officials in Nebraska, federal officials said.
A federal jury in Omaha found Donna Marie Kozak guilty of conspiracy to file and filing false liens against two U.S. District Court judges, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Nebraska, two Assistant U.S. Attorneys and an Internal Revenue Service agent, the Justice Department said.
Kozak retaliated after her associates, David and Bernita Kleensang, were convicted of federal tax crimes in 2012, according to authorities.
Initially, Kozak retaliated against the federal judge who presided over the Kleensang trial by filing a false lien against her for $19 million with the Boyd County, Nebraska, clerk’s office.
After a federal grand jury indicted Kozak for filing the false lien and for federal tax crimes, she filed five $18 million false liens against federal officials at the Washington County, Nebraska, register of deeds office while on pretrial release, officials said.
The evidence introduced at trial also showed that since the late 1990s, Kozak has engaged in a long series of fraudulent schemes to obstruct the internal revenue laws.
- These schemes include the following:
- Placing her property in sham trusts
- Establishing a sham charitable foundation
- Sending harassing correspondence to IRS employees
Filing bogus tax returns, trust returns, private-foundation returns and other false documents with the IRS.
In 2008, she filed a tax return based on fictitious income and tax withholdings and claimed a refund of $660,000.
A 2012 report by the Southern Poverty Law Center states that The Republic of the United States” is plagued with criminality.