澳彩开奖

In the family of one of the antigovernment 鈥渟overeign citizen鈥� movement鈥檚 most notorious ideologues, the apple seems to have fallen tragically close to the tree.

Jessica Gutierrez, the daughter of the late sovereign citizen , was among 18 suspects by the Ohio attorney general in connection with a telemarketing scam that defrauded elderly victims out of millions of dollars. Victims were told over the phone that their properties, usually unused areas of deserts, swamps and other virtually worthless land, could be sold to 鈥渋nterested buyers鈥� for as much as 15 times their true worth 鈥撯�� but only if the sellers first paid 鈥渃losing costs鈥� ranging from $500 to $16,000 to the scam artists.

Gutierrez was charged with telecommunications fraud and aggravated threat. If convicted, she faces up to 37 years in prison. At 26, she would join a few other criminals in her family.

, 32, Jerry鈥檚 oldest daughter, is serving a 13-year sentence for the attempted murder of a woman she found on an ex-boyfriend鈥檚 MySpace page. And prior to Jerry Kane鈥檚 own death on May 20, 2010, he had traveled around the country hosting seminars teaching people spurious schemes to avoid debt that are rooted in sovereign citizen ideology.

Kane and his son, Joe, were killed in a shootout with police after they murdered two police officers who pulled them over on an interstate in West Memphis, Ark. The killings ignited concern over the growing threat of sovereign citizens 鈥� a concern that led the FBI to characterize the movement as 鈥渄omestic terrorist.鈥�

In the aftermath of the shootout, Gutierrez presented herself as the family鈥檚 saving grace. Describing her father鈥檚 antigovernment beliefs as 鈥渃razy鈥� and 鈥渃ultish鈥� to the Memphis-area ABC affiliate, she lamented being unable to protect her 16-year-old brother from their paranoid father鈥檚 grip. But most of all, she said, she felt for the slain officers鈥� orphans, especially as a mother with small children of her own.

鈥淚 can鈥檛 make sense of it,鈥� she said. 鈥淲ords can鈥檛 even express my grief.鈥�

Apparently, her ability to empathize with the victims was less than genuine. The victims to her own, alleged scam included an 86-year-old woman with ovarian cancer who wanted to leave some money to her family. Once she paid the criminals $15,000, she was told that properties actually worth $2,347 could garner more than 100 times as much.