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Update on the Ed & Elaine Brown situation…

Radical politics tied to charges

Crimes and Corruption of the New World Order News

Officials say Cohoes man arrested this week is among supporters of couple who are defying U.S. government

First published: Friday, September 14, 2007
COHOES — A local man, arrested by federal authorities in a multi-state raid this week, was among four men who spent time in New Hampshire, providing a convicted tax-evading couple with food, weapons and support, authorities said Thursday.

In coordinated roundups in four states Wednesday, officials swooped down on Daniel J. Riley and three others named in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in New Hampshire.

Riley, 39, of Cohoes was among the friends of Ed and Elaine Brown, who have barricaded themselves in their secluded Plainfield, N.H., home since being convicted by a federal jury in January of scheming to avoid federal income taxes by hiding $1.9 million in income between 1996 and 2003. In April, they were sentenced in absentia to more than five years in prison.

Riley, a gun collector, was confronted in the driveway of his home at 62 Younglove Ave. and tried to run but got only about 15 yards, law enforcement officials said. He is accused of obstructing justice and being an accessory to the Browns’ crimes.

“We were aware of him based on what was going on up in New Hampshire,” Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Ted Gloo said Thursday. He said local marshals were waiting for the go-ahead from New Hampshire authorities.

Riley is “an associate and supporter of Ed Brown, and that’s very well known not only from what we learned from an investigation but from his (Brown’s) own Web site,” said Gloo, who is stationed in Syracuse but was in Albany for part of this week.

“We got word about a week ago that an arrest warrant was going to be issued at which time we would act on it,” Gloo said. It was issued Tuesday and sent to Albany. “We put a plan together as to what we were going to do in conjunction to what they had going on in other locations.”

Taken from the Cohoes property were several weapons, the marshal said, including a .50-caliber high-powered rifle and several assault rifles, including AK-47s. He said he was unaware of any handguns.

“We are still trying to determine with the ATF the legality of him having those,” Gloo said.

Riley has no felony convictions, so he could own some of the weapons legally, authorities said.

The 2 p.m. raid was led by federal marshals, including members of the Capital District Fugitive Task Force. Assisting marshals were Cohoes police and the State Police violent felony warrant squad. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was called in after the weapons were found.

Riley, who lists his occupation as electrician/handyman, has visited the Browns in recent months, officials said. The couple, who are holed up in their mountaintop, concrete-fortified home, has provisions to sustain them for more than a year and have threatened a gun battle should authorities attempt to take them.

Power has been cut off to the Browns’ home in an attempt to disable their telephone and Internet service. But authorities believe the house has generators, and the Browns have kept in touch with sympathizers through prepaid cellphones supplied by many of their supporters, officials said. The Browns’ home sits on an isolated dirt road and includes a turret that offers a 360-degree view of the property.

Marshals nationwide have had their eye on the Browns’ home as well as on sympathizers who support the anti-government movement and regularly visit the couple and carry their message that there is no law requiring them to pay taxes.

In June, Riley visited the Browns. While walking the couple’s dog near the home, he was arrested by marshals. After being detained for a short period, he was released without being charged.

Federal authorities said Riley’s criminal past includes low-level convictions, none of them felonies. After his arrest this week, he was arraigned before Magistrate Judge Randolph Treece in Albany and immediately extradited to New Hampshire to face the indictment.

In addition to the accessory after the fact charge, Riley and the others were charged with conspiracy to impede or injure a law enforcement officer, possession and use of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence and conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States.

Also taken into custody during the raids were Cirino Gonzales, 30, of Alice, Texas; Jason Gerhard, 22, of Brookhaven, Suffolk County; and Robert Wolffe, 50, of Randolph, Vt. Gonzales was arrested in his hometown, Gerhard at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., and Wolffe in Hartford, Vt.

Carol DeMare can be reached at 454-5431 or by e-mail at cdemare@timesunion.com. Research by Sarah J. Hinman

The Associated Press also contributed to this story

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