Moorish followers lay claim to US homes

Like many people excited about a new home, Lamont Butler invited friends over to check his out. He had a lot to show them. The Bethesda, Maryland, mansion is among the largest in the region and featured floors of imported marble, 12 bedroom suites, six kitchens and a history of playing host to political gatherings, including ones during which Bill Clinton and Al Gore helped plant trees out back.

But the personable 28-year-old, known to wear a red fez, didn't own the mansion; he had simply slipped inside and claimed it. Taking part in an odd and perplexing phenomenon popping up in cities across the US, Butler said the Bethesda mansion belonged to him because he is a Moorish American National. He had drawn up paperwork that he said proved it all, with references to a 1787 peace treaty and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

Montgomery County police call Butler's stay in the mansion, which lasted only a few hours, something entirely different: breaking and entering, fraud and attempted theft. They say it is one of the most audacious local cases in what law enforcement officers called a growing national trend where self-described "sovereign" nationals try to move into homes they don't own.

This month in Memphis, a woman saying she was a Moorish American was evicted after a SWAT team moved in on a 828-square metre mansion she said she owned. Tabitha Gentry was charged with trespassing and burglary, but in court she denied the legitimacy of the charges, repeatedly interrupted the judge and invoked her sovereign rights.

Similar cases have occurred around the nation, where sovereign nationals have slipped into empty houses, sometimes going unnoticed for a week or two, authorities say. "It's going on in every state," said Kory Flowers, an investigator with the North Carolina police and a national expert on sovereign groups.

Police in the Washington area say they have not seen nearly as many sovereign cases as other states, notably California, North Carolina and Georgia. In terms of the property's value, the Bethesda mansion incident appears to be unprecedented in the area.

Moorish American sovereigns get their name in part from the Moorish Science Temple of America, a religion formed in the early 20th century that preached obeying laws and had an uplifting message for African Americans, "Be proud of who you are", said Spencer Dew, an expert on Moors and professor of religious studies at Centenary College of Louisiana.

But in the years since, a series of Moorish offshoots have twisted some tenets for their own gain - notably the idea that black people lived in what is now the United States long before the arrival of Europeans, Dew said. Sovereign nationals, law enforcement officials say, use that tenet to justify the assertion that land instruments such as mortgages are not valid and that local laws do not have to be obeyed.

Moving into foreclosed or unoccupied houses is one of the more visible ways sovereign nationals break the law. The gambits are rarely successful, often ending within hours or days when neighbours call police after noticing unusual activity or "No Trespassing" signs in the windows of the large residences sometimes targeted.

Sovereigns break other laws, too. They sometimes don't register their cars with the local motor vehicles department, driving around instead with self-styled licence plates. And they cause headaches for those who investigate them, targeting officials for retaliation by filing million-dollar liens on their properties. Police officers, judges and other public officials have had to take time off work or turn to lawyers to untangle their land records, several public officials said.

"I can promise you that every state has had their challenges with these guys," said Carol Foglesong, a land records official in Orange County, Florida.

States have begun making it a felony to knowingly file a false lien. Virginia's General Assembly passed such a bill this year, and a similar measure is pending in Maryland.

"They have a right to express their beliefs," said Democratic state senator Jamie Raskin, a sponsor of the bill in Maryland. "But they don't have a right to abuse public processes or harass public officials."

Cosmetics millionaire Rashid Chaudary wasn't thinking about sovereigns in 1995 when he moved into his new Bethesda home, which features a series of limestone terraces with sweeping views of a hillside of trees.

Several years ago, after Chaudary's children were old enough to leave home, he and his wife moved to Chicago. They put the mansion on the market. "If only a palace will do," one of the online real estate listings said, "this is your home."

It was a well-publicised target for Butler, a resident of Charles County, who by last year was calling himself Lamont Maurice El, police say. Butler appeared in court two weeks ago, where he said the charges against him were only allegations and that he was not a criminal. He also invoked his status as a Moorish national. "I only have one free national name. That is Lamont Maurice El," he said.

District Judge Eugene Wolfe ordered Butler held on $US20,000 ($19,180) bond, which Butler posted soon after the court hearing. He was then released.

Butler had previously tangled with police last summer, when a local police officer pulled him over going 109km/h in a 88km/h zone. The officer cited him for speeding, driving around with a Moorish American licence plate and other offences, according to court records.

Butler's response was to demand $US1.05 million in gold coins from Maryland's attorney general, two judges, three police officers, the owner of a towing company - and all of their spouses. A US district judge called Butler's claims "speculative and frivolous".

By January 24, detectives had tracked Butler to a house in Charles County. Officers allegedly found him holding a shotgun, but the incident ended peacefully with Butler's arrest, authorities said.

The breaking-and-entering case involving the January 3 incident ultimately could turn on his stated beliefs. The paperwork he filed with officials carries no legal weight, authorities say.

And Butler has indicated to police that he wanted the house as an embassy for the Moors and was entitled to be inside it. By doing so, he may have admitted that he broke in.