Man killed in one-vehicle crash
Police identified him Monday as Johnny King Jr. of California.
At about 10:50 a.m. Sunday, Abilene police responded to a report of a one-vehicle crash along Interstate Highway 20, the media release said.
Preliminary information indicates that King was driving a 2023 Nissan Kicks going east when the vehicle left the roadway and struck a tree, police said. Then the vehicle caught fire.
Several witnesses found him unconscious, extracted him and attempted to save his life, police said. Abilene firefighters also responded and conducted life-saving measures.
He was pronounced dead at the scene of the collision, police said. Abilene police are continuing to investigate.
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Trish Choate is the executive editor for the Abilene Reporter-News, San Angelo Standard-Times and Wichita Falls Times Record News. Contact Trish with news tips at tchoate@gannett.com. Read her recent work here.
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Man killed in one-vehicle crash in Abilene
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Inside the fringe movement teaching Americans to punish officials with fake debt claims
SACRAMENTO — Texas real estate agent Tara Jarrett opened the online class with a prayer, bowing her head and closing her eyes. 'Dear Heavenly Father,' she began. 'I ask that you would just speak to me and through me as I deliver this detailed message tonight.' What followed was a lesson on revenge. Jarrett walked the attendees, logged in from California and other states, through the process of filing liens to punish public officials, such as politicians and judges, who they alleged aren't upholding their oaths of office. Those liens are recorded in state Uniform Commercial Code databases, public filings intended to alert creditors about business debts and financial obligations. 'This is how we level the playing field,' Jarrett, 52, told her class in a video uploaded last year. 'We don't sue government officials. We file liens that crush their credit until they cooperate.' Across the country, antagonists and antigovernment 'sovereign citizens' are flooding states and counties with liens like the ones Jarrett and others show how to file. In the claims, they often allege government officials owe them money or property, a tactic the U.S. Justice Department and nonpartisan Congressional Research Service have identified as a form of 'paper terrorism.' Other filings aren't about retribution. Instead, they're financial maneuvers aimed at businesses, claiming to be owed cash, cars and homes. Consumer credit expert John Ulzheimer said these liens can complicate a person's ability to obtain a mortgage or a business' chances of securing lines of credit. In some cases, he said, these filings can even derail job applications for positions that require thorough background checks. 'It seems too easy to me that someone can do this,' Ulzheimer said. A Times investigation found that these claims, which were designed to be straightforward and quick to file, are inherently vulnerable to abuse, inflicting financial harm and costly legal battles. A single false filing can claim an individual or business owes debts worth hundreds of millions or even trillions of dollars. Others flood victims with repeated — and often nonsensical — filings that make it appear they are entangled in complex financial disputes. Among The Times' findings: 'This is a cowardly and dangerous tactic meant to intimidate public servants and put our families at risk,' said one high-profile California public official who first learned he had been named in a UCC claim when contacted by The Times. He said the filing was fake. The official asked for anonymity because the fake debt included his home address and he did not wish to be targeted further. He said protecting home addresses gained new urgency after a man targeting Democratic lawmakers killed Minnesota House Democratic leader Melissa Hortman and her husband in their home in June. 'No one should underestimate how real these threats are,' he said. Back in Texas, Jarrett moved through her hourlong lesson flipping through black and white slides that detailed the power of filing liens against adversaries. 'It can literally take these public officials out of office if we do it the proper way,' said Jarrett, who sits on the board of star NFL receiver Mike Evans' charity. In an interview with The Times, Jarrett said she does not recommend this process to anyone and was simply providing information. The Times found no record of a person who took one of Jarrett's classes filing a retaliatory lien in California. In her $20-per-person class, she praises the tactic for being cheap and taking little time. Like bomb-making, she told the handful of attendees, it demands precision. Handled the wrong way, she said, it can blow up in your face. 'Likewise, bombing government officials with liens is a craft, not a science,' she added. Designed to be the quiet backbone of commerce, the Uniform Commercial Code system is about as mundane as bureaucracy gets. Or at least it's supposed to be. It was drafted in the 1950s to standardize interstate business transactions. One key feature is a public database run by secretary of state offices that records when a creditor claims a secured interest in an asset. The simplicity and speed of the filings are intentional: It helps keep credit accessible and prevent borrowers from using the same asset, such as a company's inventory, multiple times without lenders knowing. 'So, if I'm thinking of extending credit to your store and I'm willing to do it because you're offering your inventory as collateral, I can check the record that's available at the secretary of state's office and determine whether somebody else already has an interest in your inventory, and as a result, I'd be second in line,' said Neil Cohen, director of research for the Permanent Editorial Board for the UCC, which drafts legislation that can be adopted by states to keep the codes in sync. Many UCC filings in California's database reflect state tax liens or loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration listing what collateral was used. Particularly popular in California are solar companies placing liens on a home or the installed panels until a loan is repaid. The vast majority of UCC filings are legitimate, according to the National Assn. of Secretaries of State. But, in a 2023 report, the association said 'fraudulent or bogus filings' are a widespread and persistent problem across the country, warning that they 'can create serious financial difficulties for victims.' Mark Pitcavage, senior research fellow for the Center on Extremism at the Anti-Defamation League, said sovereign citizens first latched on to the UCC system in the late 1980s, but filings have increased over time as more and more conspiracy theories have revolved around commercial laws. Those fringe beliefs include claims that UCC filings can eliminate the need to pay car loans or credit card debt, which can plunge a person into financial ruin. Their tactics have also veered into criminal charges for fraud, said Pitcavage, citing a list of court cases compiled by the Anti-Defamation League. 'If you're in debt, you can end up in a whole lot more debt,' he said. 'Or you can turn a debt situation into a criminal situation.' Pitcavage said states are partially responsible for failing to recognize that allowing fake UCC filings to be recorded legitimizes the conspiracy theories. 'They don't do harm if they're not recorded,' Pitcavage said. 'Some states are very good ... and other states either are not good about it or actually have policies that basically say, you know, as long as they pay the filing fee you can file whatever you want.' California law allows the secretary of state's office to reject a UCC record if it's not properly filled out or if there is a reasonable belief that the document is fraudulent or intended to harass a person or entity. So far this year, the secretary of state's office has rejected more than 1,700 filings. Last year, the state denied nearly 5,000 filings. The agency declined to identify how many of the rejected filings were due to fraud or harassment versus paperwork errors. A spokesperson said the agency's role as the recording office for UCC filings is limited, but that the agency is 'always looking to improve customer experience.' Once a UCC filing is recorded, state officials step aside, leaving victims to deal with the fallout if it turns out to be fraudulent, a Times investigation found. To remove a filing from the state's database, victims must obtain a court order — a process that can cost thousands of dollars in attorney and court fees. The only other option in California is to record a new filing disputing or terminating the debt, which appears alongside the false claim rather than erasing it. In 2015, California expanded a law making it illegal to knowingly file a fake lien, broadening protections beyond public officials and employees to cover all victims. At least 16 additional states have laws that make it a crime to knowingly submit a fraudulent UCC record, according to the National Assn. of Secretaries of State report from 2023. Last year, a federal jury found a woman guilty of filing a fake lien against a U.S. attorney in Florida. In West Virginia, a man was sentenced to five years in prison in 2022 after he filed a fake lien against an IRS agent, who then had to take 'significant efforts' to clear it up when attempting to purchase a home, according to a federal appeals court opinion. A California man whom prosecutors identified as a 'sovereign citizen' was convicted in Ventura County on seven felony counts of filing false liens against government employees and sentenced to eight years in prison in 2019. Todd Duell filed additional fake liens that same year, including one against then-Secretary of State Alex Padilla, now a U.S. senator. Duell falsely claimed Padilla owed him $3 million and that he had secured the rights to Padilla's properties and bank accounts. A judge ordered the false lien be removed, finding that Duell targeted Padilla in retaliation for the criminal case filed against him. Duell couldn't be reached for comment. 'This has been an issue for at least 15 years, but it's gradually becoming more prevalent,' said John McGarvey, a Kentucky attorney who is part of the Permanent Editorial Board for the UCC, the group that proposes new legislation to keep the codes updated and aligned. Employees of Team Kia of El Cajon say they still remember the day Andre Mario Smith showed up at the dealership, clutching a UCC record he claimed entitled him to a new all-electric crossover. Confused, a car salesman photocopied the official-looking document adorned with the State of California seal, but ultimately sent Smith home without the Kia EV6 he tried to collect. 'We see this kind of stuff all the time,' said Michael Rogers, a San Diego attorney who represents Team Kia and other auto dealers. 'It's a big drain on society to have to deal with people like this who are just abusing the system.' Smith has filed numerous other UCC liens, including one for $999 quintillion against several Los Angeles County Superior Court judges. Smith declined to comment, texting: 'Not interested! Lose my number.' Rogers said the fake filings have real impacts on businesses. In the case of car dealerships, Rogers said the vehicles on their lots are often financed with a line of credit that is paid down when cars are sold. 'When dealerships want to take out a second line of credit to buy more used cars or do capital improvements, they've got these UCC filings cluttering up their financial history,' he said. 'It makes it very difficult for them to go out and get capital.' The UCC record Smith filed for the Kia remains in California's public database, but alongside 'termination' amendments Rogers filed that call the original claim erroneous. Rogers estimated that it would have cost up to $5,000 in court and attorney fees for the dealership to go to court to have the UCC record removed from the public database. The Times found a second person also filed a UCC claim against Team Kia. 'Now, I have to go through the process of getting this one terminated also,' he said. One of the most prolific individual UCC filers in California is Edward Kennedy. The Pennsylvania man has recorded UCC filings listing hundreds of people and businesses as being subject to his mysterious 'fee schedule,' in which he argues he's owed money for interactions with the government. A copy of that self-prescribed fee schedule was included in a lawsuit Kennedy filed against Facebook in 2021. It lists several pages of fees he says he charges, including $60,000 for every traffic citation he is issued, $50,000 when a public official fails to uphold their oath of office and $75,000 per hour if he's required to appear in court. In California UCC filings, he's named the state Assembly, numerous Pennsylvania officials, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and former Gov. Jerry Brown, among others. Kennedy filed a similar debt claim in Washington state, where he named Gov. Gavin Newsom and Microsoft as both being subject to his fee schedule in the same filing. It's unclear why Kennedy records so many UCC filings in California. Recording UCC statements is far cheaper in California at $5 per filing. By comparison, it costs $84 in Pennsylvania and $23 in Washington. Messages left for Kennedy were not returned. A county official in the Bay Area, who asked that his name not be used to avoid being targeted with additional fake filings, said he first learned he was named in a debt claim filed by Kennedy when contacted by The Times. The filing, which was recorded in 2022, included his home address, which he called 'unnerving.' He said he doesn't understand why he wouldn't be notified as part of the process so he could have promptly challenged it. 'It is shocking that individuals can file a baseless claim and then have it affect your credit and your way of life,' he said. Kristine Lee, who serves as assessor, clerk and recorder for Kings County in Central California, said she discovered five additional false filings against her after The Times alerted her to one. The filings listed her as owing debts that wouldn't expire for 20 years. 'I'm not sure what they think they would get out of me because it says liened and claimed at a sum of $100 billion,' Lee said. Lee said she was never notified when the documents were filed listing her work address. When she contacted the secretary of state's office, officials told her their hands were tied and 'it would have to be handled through the court.' That regulatory void has not gone unnoticed. Jarrett, the Texas real estate agent, told attendees in her class last year that UCC liens give them 'an enormous amount of legal leverage.' She opened and closed the class with a disclaimer, reminding those watching that she's not a lawyer and wasn't offering legal advice. She warned that they must follow the steps she outlines exactly or they could find themselves in serious legal trouble. But she repeatedly praised the method, calling it an equalizer. 'The process is powerful and dangerous to those who are in the line of fire,' she explained to attendees. 'There is no escape: Either acquiesce and justly recompense or suffer the awful consequences.' Times librarian Cary Schneider contributed to this report.
