Elaine Brown's Affidavit about night of arrest

[Dezcad]

Posted on another forum:

ELAINES "AFFIDAVIT" OF WHAT HAPPENED THE NIGHT OF THEIR CAPTURE


NIGHT OF THE CAPTURE


ED AND I WERE CAPTURE IN THE EVENING OF THURSDAY OCTOBER 4TH 2007, AFTER MAKING OUR STAND IN OUR HOME SINCE JANUARY.

THE PREVIOUS WEEKEND, DUTCH/DAN WAS INTRODUCED TO US BY ONE OF OUR TRUSTED FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS. HE AND DUTCH/DAN ARRIVED UNEXPECTEDLY AT OUR HOME VERY LATE ONE NIGHT, AROUND MIDNIGHT AS I RECALL. DUTCH/DAN HAD BEEN WORKING HIS WAY INTO THE CONFIDENCE OF OUR FRIEND FOR SOME TIME, PROFESSING TO BE A SUPPORTER AND SYMPATHIZER OF US AND OUR CAUSE.

DUTCH/DAN STAYED WITH US FOR A DAY OR SO, OFFERING TO AID US IN ANY WAY. HE CLAIMED TO BE A BOUNTY HUNTER, LIVING IN NEW YORK SOMEPLACE. I DO NOT RECALL IF HE SAID EXACTLY WHERE. HE ASKED TO HAVE SOME BROKEN FILLINGS REPLACED, WHICH I DID, AND FOR WHICH HE PAID ME (WHICH OF COURSE WAS THEN CONFISCATED). WEN I TOLD HIM I WANTED TO GET THE REST OF MY DENTAL SUPPLIES FROM MY DENTAL OFFICE, HE OFFERED TO GET THEM FOR ME. HE WENT BACK AND FORTH TO NEW YORK A COUPLE OF TIMES DURING THE WEEK, SO HE SAID, GTTING IN TOUCH WITH SOME ASSOCIATES TO ASSIST HIM IN GETTING THE SUPPLIES. HE SCOUTED OUT THE OFFICE TO SEE WHAT KIND OF SECURITY WAS THERE. AGAIN SO HE SAID.

I HAD ASKED HIM WHY HE WOULD TAKE SUCH A RISK FOR SOMEONE HE DIDNT EVEN KNOW HIS ANSWER WAS "BECAUSE I LOVE YOU GUYS"
I REMEMBER THOSE EXACT WORDS

ON OCTOBER 4TH HE ARRIVED WITH 4 OF HIS ASSOCIATES SOME OF THEM, I DONT RECALL IF 1 OR 2 OF THEM, REMAINED AT THE HOUSE AND WERE IN TELEPHONE CONTACT. THEY SAID THERE WAS AN ALARM ON THE OFFICE DOOR, BUT THEY COULD GET AROUND IT. DUTCH/DAN HAD TOLD US THAT HE WOULD LOVE TO GET THE SUPPLIES OUT OF THE OFFICE, THAT IT WOULD BE A LOT OF FUN TO GRAB STUFF FROM THE FEDS.

THEY ACTUALLY BROUGHT BAGS FULL OF "SUPPLIES" (?) TO THE HOUSE THEY PUT EVERYTHING IN THE GARAGE. I NEVER DID GET THE OPORTUNITY TO LOOK IN THE BAGS, BUT I ASSUME IT WAS SUPPLIES IN CASE I DID OPEN THE BAGS WHEN THEY BROUGHTTHEM IN.

DUTCH/DAN ALSO BROUGHT 3 PIZZAS, AND WE BROKE OUT THE BEER, WE ALL SAT ON THE FRONT PORCH EATING PIZZA AND DRINKING BEER, JUST RELAXING. SUDDENLY THEY ALL JUMPED US. DUTCH/DAN WAS SITTING ON MY RIGHT, AN HE GRABBED ME SECURING MY HANDS. ONCE HE HAD ME SECURED, ONE OF THE OTHERS TAZERED ME ON MY LEFT KNEE. THE OTHER FOUR MEN HAD ED ON THE FLOOR, THEY HAD ACTUALLY FORCED HIM OUT OF HIS CHAIR , THROUGH THE FRONT DOOR, AND ONTO THE FOYER FLOOR WE WERE IMMEDIATELY HANDCUFFED. I BEHIND MY BACK. MY MEMORY OF ED IS HE WAS HANDCUFFED IN FRONT AND SHACKLED FEET AND WAIST.

SHORTLY THEREAFTER, ED WAS DRIVEN TO THE LEBANON POLICE DEP. I WAS KEPT AT THE HOUSE FOR ABOUT ANOTHER HOUR. OUR DOG ZOE, WAS SO FRIGHTENED AND CONFUSED. FORTUNATELY SHE HAS A VERY SWEET AND PASSIVE PERSONALITY, SO SHE WAS NOT KILLED BUT WAS SAFELY TAKEN TO THE LOCAL HUMANE CENTER, AS WAS OUR CAT AMELIA.

I WAS THEN TAKEN TO THE LEBANON POLICE DEPT. AS WE WERE DRIVING THERE, ON THE ROAD LEADING TO OUR ROAD, WE PASSED 6 OR 8 VEHICLES TRAVELING TOGETHER TOWARD OUR HOUSE. ALSO AFTER WE WERE CAPTURED, SEVERAL MEN IN FULL BDU'S HEAVILY ARMED, ARRIVED AT THE HOUSE. THUS THERE WAS A VERY LARGE CONTINGENCY OF MARSHALLS, IF THATS WHO THEY ALL WERE, GATHERED TO COME IN. HAD WE NOT BEEN SUBDUED AS WE WERE, I HAVE NO DOUBT THEY WERE PREPARED TO KILL US. ALL THIS FO VIOLATING A LAW THAT DOES NOT EXIST.

UPON ARRIVING AT THE LEBANON POLICE DEPT. I SAW ED IN A HOLDING CELL. I WAS TAKEN TO A CELL OUT OF SIGH OF ED. I SAW ON THE WALL OF MY CELL "NHFREE" SO I KNOW THIS WASTHE CELL LAUREN CANARIO HAD BEEN PLACED IN. HI LAUREN! ONE OF THE MARSHALLS KEPT TELLING ME HOW GLAD HE WAS THAT WE WERE NOT SHOT. THAT THEY REALLY DIDNT WANT TO HURT US. OF COURSE THEY DIDNT THINK, OF THE BAD P.R. IT WOULD BRING THEM.

HE WAS SHOUTING AT ED AT THE POLICE STATION, ABOUT HOW HE (ED) BROKE THE LAW, ETC.. THIS MAN ALTERNATED BETWEEN CONCERN AND VERBAL ABUSE. HE IS THE ONE WHO KEPT HIS HANDS ON ME THE WHOLE TIME, FROM THE HANDCUFFING TO THE POLICE STATION. I DONT KNOW IF THAT IS PART OF THEIR TRAINING, OR IF HE HAS A MENTAL PROBLEM OF SOME KIND. FOR EXAMPLE, WHILE AT THE HOUSE HE HELD ME BY THE ARM EVEN THOUGH I WAS HANDCUFFED AND SURROUNDED BY A NUMBER OF ARMED MEN, HE STARTED SHOUTING IN MY EAR ABOUT MY CRIME, HOW I SHOULD HAVE PAID TAXES, HOW WRONG WE WERE, ETC ETC. I TOLD HIM I WOULD NOT RESPOND TO HIM, SO HE SHOULD STOP TALKINGTO ME. HE SAID HE WAS GOING TO TALK AS MUCH AS HE WANTED, AND I HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO LISTEN TO HIM. I JUST TUNED HIM OUT BY PRAYING SILENTLY.

AFTER AN HOUR OR SO, I WAS TAKEN FROM THE POLICE STATION. I PASSED BY THE CELL ED WAS IN. WE KISSED THROUGH THE METAL SCREEN. THAT IS THE LAST TIME I SAW MY HUSBAND. I WAS NOT TOLD WHERE I WAS BEING TAKEN. I WAS TAKEN TO THE WYATT DETENTION CENTER IN CENTRALL FALLS R.I. (A COSMIC JOKE, THAT IS THE CITY I WAS BORN IN) UNKNOWN TO ME ED WAS BROUGHT TO THE SAME PLACE. I WAS DRIVEN HERE ON SATURDAY MORNING, BUT ED WAS KEPT THERE FOR ALMOST A WEEK.

WHILE THERE I WAS KEPT IN AN OBSERVATION ROOM ON SUICIDE WATCH. I WAS NOT ALLOWED TO GET MY GLASSES OR MY MEDS FROM TH HOUSE BEFORE I LEFT. FRIDAY NIGHT I HAD AN ASTHMA ATTACK, AND HAD TO HAVE A NEBULIZER TREATMENT. I WAS NOT GIVEN ANY ASTHMA MEDS UNTIL MONDAY NIGHT HERE, AND THEN IT WAS ONLY DUE TO MY CONSTANT ASKING AND KINDNESS OF A PHYSICIANS ASSISTANT, AND AFTER HAVING TO HAVE ANOTHER NEBULIZER TREATMENT. I AM OK BUT ED HAS BEEN AND CONTINUES TO BE MISTREATED. HE IS STILL IN ISOLATION AT ELKTON, AND OUR MAIL TO EACH OTHER IS BEING HELD. MY ONLY WORD OF HIM IS FROM OTHERS WHO HAVE BEEN ABLE TO COMMUNICATE WITH HIM.

DUTCH/DAN WAS VERY GOOD. ED AND I HAD OUR SUSPICIONS, BUT WE LET OUR GUARD DOWN. PERHAPS THE SITUATION WAS STARTING TO GET TO US. I KNOW I WAS STARTING TO GET ITCHY ABOUT BEING UNABLE TO LEAVE, AND HAVING TO RELY ON OTHERS. IT HAD TO END ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, AND SO IT HAS.

WE KNOW GOD HAS A PLAN AND WE ALL HAVE A PART TO PLAY IN IT. HE LEAVES IT UP TO US TO DECIDE IF WE WILL PLAY THAT PART. ED AND I MADE THE DECISION TO DO SO. LOOKING BACK YEARS AGO WHEN WE STARTED THIS. WE DID NOT REALIZE THAT IS WHAT WE WERE DOING. BUT NOW WE KNOW WHY IT ALWAYS FELT SO RIGHT TO US; WE DID WHAT OUR HEARTS LED US TO DO. WHAT GOD HAS PLANNED FOR US, ALL OF US, FROM NOW ON IS UP TO HIM. TO LET US KNOW IN HIS OWN TIME.

THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT I SIT HERE AND DO NOTHING. I HAVE MET SOME AMAZING WOMEN HERE WHO HAVE OPENED MY EYES TO A NEW PATH IN OUR QUEST FOR FREEDOM. WE ARE WORKING ALONG THAT ROAD NOW, IN OUR CONTINUING EFFORT TO EXPOSE THE FRAUD IN OUR GOVERNMENT. IS THIS WHY I AM HERE? ONLY THE FUTURE WILL TELL.

BE BRAVE, STAND UP TO OPPRESSION; INNJUSTICE TO ONE IS INJUSTICE TO ALL . ANYONE WHO DOES NOT FIGHT IS PART OF THE PROBLEM. THAT SEEMS HARSH, BUT THESE ARE HARSH TIMES!

ROMANS 12:2 SAYS, " BE YE NOT CONFORMED TO THE WORLD, BUT BE YE TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND, THAT YE MAY PROVE THAT WHICH IS THE RIGHT AND ACCEPTABLE AND PERFECT WILL OF GOD."

MAY HE BLESS US ALL, AND GIVE US THE STRENGTH AND WISDOM TO DO THY WILL.

ELAINE ALICE : BROWN

[.]

HE ASKED TO HAVE SOME BROKEN FILLINGS REPLACED, WHICH I DID

Yeah, right, sure, an undercover fed asked for dental work, out of the clear blue sky, to be done where there was no equipment available. Right. You bet. And I'm the Queen of England.

This idiot is perhaps more delusional than Ed, and that's a hard place to get to.

[Randall]

What has become of the cat and dog?
Are they still being held hostage or have they been adopted?

[Famspear]

Elaine Brown allegedly wrote:

DUTCH/DAN WAS SITTING ON MY RIGHT, AN[D] HE GRABBED ME[,] SECURING MY HANDS. ONCE HE HAD ME SECURED, ONE OF THE OTHERS TAZERED [sic] ME ON MY LEFT KNEE.

(bolding added).

I don't get arrested that often, so I'm not that familiar with the drill. I'm just curious, if anyone knows:

Is is standard operating procedure to tazer (taser?) a woman whose hands have been secured and who is not resisting arrest?

Oh, wait a minute, maybe I'm assuming too much. I wonder if Elaine might have been resisting, kicking and screaming and biting or who knows what, and just FORGOT TO MENTION IT in her narrative.

[Dezcad]

Elaine Brown allegedly wrote:

DUTCH/DAN WAS SITTING ON MY RIGHT, AN[D] HE GRABBED ME[,] SECURING MY HANDS. ONCE HE HAD ME SECURED, ONE OF THE OTHERS TAZERED [sic] ME ON MY LEFT KNEE.

(bolding added).

I don't get arrested that often, so I'm not that familiar with the drill. I'm just curious, if anyone knows:

Is is standard operating procedure to tazer (taser?) a woman whose hands have been secured and who is not resisting arrest?

Oh, wait a minute, maybe I'm assuming too much. I wonder if Elaine might have been resisting, kicking and screaming and biting or who knows what, and just FORGOT TO MENTION IT in her narrative.

Given that both Elaine and Ed had vowed to never be taken alive, this shouldn't be under SOP but that extra precautions should have been taken.

Then again, I don't trust anything that either one writes.

[Disilloosianed]

Sounds like a well-executed plan.

[The Observer]

What has become of the cat and dog?
Are they still being held hostage or have they been adopted?

Good question. I am starting to wonder if perhaps the pets were the real ringleaders of this whole mess and Ed and Elaine were duped into becoming cat's paws (no pun intended).

[ErsatzAnatchist]

Can Elaine be that far over the deep end? I really thought that once the reality of federal prison sunk in, she would see the light (or at least something). Instead, she seems just as drunk on the Kool-Aide as ever.

Maybe CaptainKickback is right.

[Demosthenes]

Elaine Brown offers details of her arrest

By Margot Sanger-Katz
Monitor staff
December 09. 2007 12:06AM


Elaine Brown performed dental work on the undercover U.S. marshal who arrested her, and was eating pizza and drinking beer with him and her husband, Ed, when she was suddenly tackled, Tasered and handcuffed, she said in a letter recently posted on the internet.

The arrest, in October, ended a nearly nine-month standoff between federal officials and the Browns, who vowed to die before surrendering to serve prison sentences for tax crimes. The Browns contend that no law required them to pay taxes on nearly $1.9 million of Elaine's income from her dental practice.

They stockpiled weapons and explosives devices, court documents say, and hosted like-minded guests committed to helping them hold off authorities. They were arrested by a small team of undercover marshals who posed as supporters.

Accounts from Ed Brown and Shaun Kranish, an Illinois supporter of the couple who introduced them to an undercover marshal named "Dutch," have provided a description of how the couple was tricked into inviting marshals to their home. But Elaine Brown's letter includes new details that emphasize the trust she put in Dutch before the arrest.

"Dutch/Dan also brought 3 pizzas, and we broke out the beer. We all sat on the front porch, eating pizza and drinking beer, just relaxing," the letter from prison says. "Suddenly they all jumped us."

A facsimile of the handwritten letter was posted on an online message board Friday by a poster named "Keith in RI" and described as an "affidavit" from Elaine Brown. The handwriting is similar to writing in recent court pleadings penned by Brown.

U.S. Marshal Stephen Monier, who led the effort to apprehend the Browns, said that he had seen the letter but could not comment or confirm any details.

In a lengthy radio interview in October, Kranish described how he first chatted with Dutch online, then met him at a South Bend, Ind., gas station, agreed to help him with a security job on Long Island, drove cross country with him and finally escorted him to the Browns' Plainfield home. Dutch told Kranish that he had professional skills that he could offer to the couple to help secure their home. According to Kranish's account, the four stayed up all night talking when they arrived at the Browns' home, but Kranish left Dutch alone with the couple for several hours while he took a nap.

According to Elaine's letter, Dutch, who told Kranish his real name was Daniel Farrioli, described his profession differently.

"Dutch/Dan stayed with us for a day or so, offering to aid us in any way," she wrote. "He claimed to be a bounty hunter, living in New York someplace. I do not recall if he said exactly where. He asked to have some broken fillings replaced, which I did, and for which he paid me."

A blog post this summer, written by a man who was living with the couple, said Elaine Brown had brought some dental equipment to her house and was performing work there to earn money. During her trial, an employee testified that Elaine refused to use metal fillings containing mercury or provide fluoride treatments because she feared the chemicals would poison her patients.

In June, IRS agents seized and secured her former office in West Lebanon. Dutch offered to break into the building and recover more dental supplies for Brown, the letter says. He said he would go home to New York to bring friends who could help him.

"I had asked him why he would take such a risk for someone he didn't even know," she wrote. "His answer was, 'Because I love you guys.' I remember those exact words."

On Oct. 4, the day of the arrest, Dutch returned with four friends, the letter says. One or two stayed at her house while Dutch and the others said they were going to the office. They returned later with full bags and three pizzas.

The arrest happened during dinner, the letter said.

In Ed Brown's account of the arrest, which he told to Kranish in a recorded phone conversation from the Elkton, Ohio, prison where he was initially held, he said that Dutch "swarmed" him and he did not resist. (Kranish confirmed that the recording was authentic, and Monier, who declined to comment on Brown's statement at the time, did not deny that the recording was real.)

"I had the opportunity to stop Dutch, real quick and real brief. You know, I'm really fast," Brown told Kranish in the recording. "I'm not going to hurt anybody, and I don't want to hurt anybody."

Elaine's version is slightly different. She wrote that Dutch "jumped" her while the other four marshals went for her husband.

"Dutch/Dan was sitting on my right, and he grabbed me securing my hands. Once he had me secured, one of the others tasered me on my left knee," the letter says. "The other 4 men had Ed on the floor, they had actually forced him out of his chair, through the front door, and onto the foyer floor. We were immediately handcuffed."

Monier has provided few details about the circumstances of the arrest, saying only that it involved a small team of marshals, took place on the couple's porch and was without incident.

Elaine Brown wrote that Ed Brown was taken from the house first, where she was left for an hour with a growing crowd of heavily armed marshals. The letter says she "had no doubt they were ready to kill us."

But she also said that one marshal kept telling her that he was glad they had not been shot.

She said she saw her husband briefly at the Lebanon police station before she was taken to a Rhode Island holding facility and later to the Danbury, Conn., minimum security prison where she is currently incarcerated.

"I passed by the cell Ed was in," she wrote. "We kissed through the metal screen. That is the last time I saw my husband."

Since their arrest, both Browns have corresponded with supporters, who have been discussing the missives in online discussion forums. "Keith in RI," who posted the recent letter from Elaine Brown, has been writing to both Browns and four of their supporters who were arrested this summer, his messages say.

The Browns are both serving 63-month sentences for a series of crimes related to their unwillingness to pay federal income taxes on Elaine Brown's dental income over several years. Monier has indicated that they will likely be charged with additional crimes once an investigation is complete. Court documents in their supporters' cases have said that federal agents found more than two dozen improvised explosive devices, booby traps and 20 guns on the property. The Browns also publicly threatened federal officials, including the judge in their criminal trial

Throughout their stand, the Browns repeated that they would never surrender to authorities.

"We don't know how this will end. But there are only two ways we are coming out of here," Elaine Brown said on a web video recorded in March. "Either as a free man and as a free woman or in body bags."

But in the recent letter, Elaine Brown describes ambivalence about her capture.

"Dutch/Dan was very good," Elaine wrote in the letter. "Ed and I had our suspicions, but we let our guard down. Perhaps the situation was starting to get to us. I know I was starting to get itchy about being unable to leave, and having to rely on others. It had to end one way or another."

According to Elaine's affidavit and online transcriptions of other letters, the Browns have not been allowed to communicate directly, though they have learned of each other's circumstances indirectly.

Ed Brown has struggled more with prison life, according to online accounts and the audio recording. In the taped phone conversation, he complained of abuse that included "gassing" through the prison ventilation system, isolation and unreasonably cold conditions. More recent letters have reiterated some of these complaints, in some cases alleging that he has been "permanently" damaged.

Transcriptions of Elaine Brown's letters indicate she's found some elements of prison life challenging, including the noise and the carbohydrate-laden diet, but has been getting along with her fellow inmates.

"I have met some amazing women here who have opened my eyes to a new path in our quest for freedom," she wrote in the recent letter. "We are working along that road now, in our continuing effort to expose the fraud in our government. Is this why I am here?"

[Demosthenes]

[Dutch] claimed to be a bounty hunter, living in New York someplace.

Snicker.

[ASITStands]

"I have met some amazing women here who have opened my eyes to a new path in our quest for freedom," she wrote in the recent letter. "We are working along that road now, in our continuing effort to expose the fraud in our government. Is this why I am here?"

I'm wondering what the new path entails.

[silversopp]

"I have met some amazing women here who have opened my eyes to a new path in our quest for freedom," she wrote in the recent letter. "We are working along that road now, in our continuing effort to expose the fraud in our government. Is this why I am here?"

I'm wondering what the new path entails.

One thing for sure, when Ed meets some "amazing men" in prison, he'll also have a new path opened up.

[ErsatzAnatchist]

"I have met some amazing women here who have opened my eyes to a new path in our quest for freedom," she wrote in the recent letter. "We are working along that road now, in our continuing effort to expose the fraud in our government. Is this why I am here?"

I'm wondering what the new path entails.

One thing for sure, when Ed meets some "amazing men" in prison, he'll also have a new path opened up.

That's naughty.

[Quixote]

I have met some amazing women here who have opened my eyes to a new path in our quest for freedom ...

And who would know more about achieving freedom than inmates.