Robert Beale back in the news

[Demosthenes]

Four Twin Cities men arrested in plot against federal judge
By Elizabeth Mohr
Article Last Updated: 07/15/2008 12:43:55 PM CDT

A North Oaks man already in jail accused of felony fraud and tax evasion is now accused of conspiring to prevent a federal judge from performing her duties, including a plot through his "common law court" to have her arrested.

Robert Beale, 65, was charged Monday in federal court with one count of conspiracy to impede an officer and one count of obstruction of justice. Also indicted on the same charges were Frederick Bond, 62, of Champlin; John Pelton, 67, of Stillwater; and Norman Pool, 43, of Blaine.

"God wants me to destroy the judge," Beale is accused of saying in court records.

Beale claims to be the leader of a "common law court" for which "there is only one judge who has exclusive jurisdiction over people — Jesus Christ," according to a statement from United States Attorney Frank Magill's office.

According to the indictment, Beale and his followers "knowingly and intentionally conspired to prevent by force, intimidation and threat a federal judge from presiding over a criminal trial."

Beale's criminal trial was scheduled for sometime in April, to be heard by U.S. District Court Judge Ann Montgomery.

During the trial, "Beale was found guilty of one count of felony conspiracy to defraud the United States, five counts of tax evasion for failing to pay any personal income tax on more than $5.1 million in income and one count of failing to appear in court," the U.S. Attorney's statement says.

Beale was founder and chief executive of Comtrol Corp. of Maple Grove, a computer parts company now under new ownership. He has had past run-ins over tax problems and in 2003 said he was worth $20 million.

Before March, the defendants began conspiring to prevent Judge Montgomery from holding the trial, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. The men issued fake warrants for Montgomery's arrest, filed fraudulent liens, planned to disrupt court proceedings and planned to arrest Montgomery. The plans were concocted at meetings of their "common law court" in Little Canada and in phone calls from Beale, after he was jailed.

In an April 3 call from jail, Beale was heard telling someone, "God wants me to destroy the judge. That judge is evil. He wants me to get rid of her."

In another April 3 phone call, Beale spoke with Pelton, who told him the group planned to have more than 30 people attend his trail and that they would "arrest Judge Montgomery if she does not dismiss the charges against Beale and release him from custody," the U.S. Attorney's office statement says.

If convicted, the defendants face up to six years in prison for the conspiracy charge and up to 10 years for the obstruction charge.

[Demosthenes]

Tax evader Robert Beale sentenced to 11-plus years in prison
By JIM WALSH, Star Tribune

September 11, 2008

Alternating between defiance, repentance and ultimately claiming that the federal court has no jurisdiction over him, former North Oaks millionaire Robert Beale finally silently accepted a sentence of more than 11 years in prison for tax evasion and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government.

Beale, 65, spent the first part of hearing arguing that the tax code didn't apply to him and that he had paid what he owed. He then read to the court the story of his life and his accomplishments, which included being raised on a Maryland farm, where he milked cows at age 8, spending seven years at MIT, working as an engineer at Honeywell, starting churches and acting as a youth minister and designing jet engines.

He added: "In the future, I would like to continue my work in starting churches and creating medical devices."

At one point, he regretted having protested taxes since 2000. "I am very sorry for the many decisions I have made over the last 10 years," he said "I ask forgiveness from everyone involved. My goal is to be a good example for my family."

However, he interrupted U.S. District Judge Ann Montgomery just before she was about impose sentence. "The key ingredient in this dilemma is to live faithfully," he said. "I believe I was going to the next level to help mankind."

He then went on to deny his status as a U.S. citizen and deny "the existence of the fictitious defendant Robert Beale."

He also denied that he received a fair trial or access to information to defend himself, and he challenged the jurisdiction of the court.

"I do not consent to incarceration, fine of supervised release," he said. "I have not committed a crime."

Along with his sentence of 11 years and 2 months (with credit for time served), he was fined $175,000 and must make restitution for taxes and penalties owed to the federal and state governments. A tax expert testified today that the amount is more than $4 million.

On April 30, federal jurors ignored Beale's indignation, religious beliefs and obscure interpretations of the U.S. Constitution and philosophy, before convicting him on all seven counts brought against him for tax evasion, conspiracy and fleeing authorities.

The trial for the former millionaire CEO of Comtrol Corp. in Maple Grove lasted eight days and featured more than 100 exhibits, some about arcane tax laws. Jurors need only two hours to find him guilty.

The government argued that Beale deceived and conspired to hide more than $5 million in income for which he owed more than $1.6 million in taxes. His greed and arrogance were simply cloaked in anti-tax arguments from the radical fringe, prosecutors contended.

Beale, who said he was once worth $20 million, fled rather than face the government in court when he was originally charged in 2006. He was captured in Florida after 14 months on the run.

From 2000 through 2004, Beale directed employees to pay him through a shell company, Chayil Corp., in order to hide his income. After the Minnesota Department of Revenue issued subpoenas for pay documents, Beale removed them from the building and stopped sending invoices. He eventually was paid through cashier's checks and sent money to Swiss bank accounts.

Meanwhile, Beale sent "nonsense" documents to the IRS and Minnesota Department of Revenue that pretended to offer financial information or challenge laws, in case his income was discovered.

When those attempts failed, Beale fled. While on the run, Beale, through a son, tried to get $600,000 from his Swiss bank account to buy property in Switzerland. He also filed a phoney document to have a lien removed on a seized property, which he then tried to sell.

When Beale was arrested in November at a strip mall in Orlando, Fla., he was carrying a fake passport and driver's license issued from "The Kingdom of Heaven," something he had copied off the Internet.

[Famspear]

[ . . . ]he was carrying a fake passport and driver's license issued from "The Kingdom of Heaven," something he had copied off the Internet.

Yet another example of why all tax protesters should be tested for mental competency and, if found wanting, should be denied access to computers, the internet, red meat, etc., etc.

[The Observer]

The trial for the former millionaire CEO of Comtrol Corp. in Maple Grove lasted eight days and featured more than 100 exhibits, some about arcane tax laws. Jurors need only two hours to find him guilty.

[sarcasm]See? What more proof do you need to understand how the justice system has been subverted to the Illuminati? Two hours? With all of that evidence to go through?[/sarcasm]

The fact is that overwhelming amounts of evidence against the defendant in conjunction with the defendant uttering gibberish might tend to help juries reach a quick verdict.

[ASITStands]

... more than 100 exhibits, some about arcane tax laws.

Boy! That would have been interesting.

Being somewhat of a tax history buff, I'd like to have examined some of those exhibits.

I actually spoke with the guy on the phone and tried to talk him out of his direction. It was just prior to the first trial, and he was moving under admiralty law at the direction of Jack Smith and Cindi Beers. He skipped town shortly thereafter. Must have been something I said.

I told him his ship would hit a strong gale and be cast on the rocks of despair.

Well, something like that. I told him I knew of no one who had successfully used Jack Smith's or Cindi Beers' arguments and won their case in any venue at any time. He didn't agree.

He's reportedly a nice guy, and he's been very successful in the past. However, he sure drank long and hard at the Kool-Aid kiosk. He's definitely eat up with it. Nutty theories.

[Demosthenes]

He's reportedly a nice guy

Nice guys don't threaten to murder judges.

[LPC]

He's reportedly a nice guy

Nice guys don't threaten to murder judges.

I understand that sociopaths can be quite charming (as long as you don't get in their way, of course).

[Demosthenes]

I watched one at Ed Brown's trial - the prison snitch. Fascinating guy.

[LPC]

From the Minneapolis-St.Paul Star Tribune:

A surreal end to tax protester's odyssey

By JAMES WALSH jwalsh@startribune.com, Star Tribune

September 11, 2008

After years of defying the government, of hiding millions in income from the IRS and then going into hiding, Robert B. Beale calmly stood before U.S. District Judge Ann Montgomery on Thursday and, for a moment, acknowledged the trouble he had caused.

"I am very sorry for the many decisions I have made over the last 10 years," he said. "I ask forgiveness from everyone involved. My goal is to be a good example for my family."

Then, as Montgomery was about to impose sentence for tax evasion, something happened. The old tax protester reappeared, insisting that the judge, the court and the country have no power over him.

"I deny the existence of the fictitious defendant Robert Beale," he said. "I do not consent to incarceration, a fine or supervised release. I have not committed a crime. There's nothing for which to convict me. I have been found not guilty by a jury of my peers. I have been released."

Then Montgomery brought Beale, 65, back to reality, sentencing him to more than 11 years in prison for hiding more than $5 million in income and owing the state and federal governments more than $4 million in unpaid taxes, interest and penalties.

Like much of Beale's trial, the sentencing Thursday was an odd display of the many faces of a millionaire-turned-rebel-turned-fugitive.

At first, Beale, who acted as his own attorney, grilled an IRS investigator on what laws gave the government authority to tax him. When Montgomery cut him off, he sat mostly quietly, arms folded.

Then, when it was his turn to make a statement, Beale proceeded to recite from a list of his life and accomplishments.

Beale choked up at times as he recounted milking cows on his family's farm at the age of 8, becoming a Christian, winning a National Merit Scholarship, and conducting engineering research at MIT during the Vietnam War.

He talked of working on guidance systems for Honeywell, serving as a youth minister, designing jet engines, forming his own technology company, inventing medical devices, meeting presidents and religious leaders, and starting churches overseas. And he talked about, in 2000, beginning to contest the country's tax code. He often filed paperwork challenging the IRS and Minnesota Department of Revenue.

"In the future, I would like to continue my work in starting churches and creating medical devices," he said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Rank pointed out that, despite Beale's apparent contrition, he has continued from jail to use online message boards to encourage others to refuse to pay taxes. Rank asked Montgomery to give Beale a tougher sentence.

"Mr. Beale has shown with his conduct in this case that he has no respect for the law," Rank said.

The judge agreed, saying to Beale: "There are aspects of your case I won't pretend to understand."

She said she has a stack of letters from friends, family and associates of Beale's. "And they don't speak with a single voice at all," she said. Some call him greedy and a bad man, Montgomery said. Others extol his virtues.

"You were the personification of the American Dream, only to throw it all away because you chose not to pay your taxes," she said.

Paid in cash

From 2000 through 2004, Beale, the former millionaire CEO of Comtrol Corp. in Maple Grove, directed that he be paid in cash through a shell company in order to hide his income. After the Minnesota Department of Revenue issued subpoenas for payroll documents, Beale removed them from the building and stopped sending invoices. He eventually was paid through cashier's checks and sent money to Swiss bank accounts.

When Beale was charged in 2006, he fled. While on the run, Beale, through a son, tried to get $600,000 from his Swiss bank account to buy property in Switzerland. He also filed a phony document to have a lien removed on a seized property, which he then tried to sell.

He was arrested in November at a strip mall in Orlando, Fla., after 14 months on the run, carrying a fake passport and driver's license issued from "The Kingdom of Heaven."

On April 30, federal jurors convicted him on seven counts of tax evasion, conspiracy and fleeing authorities. Jurors needed only two hours to find him guilty.

On Thursday, Beale denied once again that the federal government could tell him what to do. Then the U.S. marshals took him away.

[ASITStands]

I was thinking more in line with They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha Ha!

Or, maybe it's just that Friday Afternoon Moment of Zen.

[grixit]

I was thinking more in line with They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha Ha!

I think the b side of that one is more appropriate.