![]() ![]() In terms of the property’s value, the Bethesda mansion incident appears to be unprecedented in the area. Police in the Washington area say they have not seen nearly as many sovereign cases as other states, notably California, North Carolina and Georgia. “It’s going on in every state,” said Kory Flowers, an investigator with the Greensboro, N.C., police and a national expert on sovereign groups. (Nicki DeMarco and Dan Morse/The Washington Post) When a man broke into an unoccupied six million dollar Bethesda mansion and claimed it on behalf of “Moorish Nation,” realtors and police alike were confused by the bizarre sequence of events. 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. 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. This month in Memphis, a woman saying she was a Moorish American was evicted after a SWAT team moved in on a 9,000-square-foot mansion she said she owned. They say it is one of the most audacious local cases in what law enforcement officers called a growing national trend where self-ĭescribed “sovereign” nationals try to move into homes they don’t own. ![]() ![]() Montgomery County police call Butler’s stay in the mansion, which lasted only a few hours, something entirely different from a legitimate claim: breaking and entering, fraud and attempted theft. He’d drawn up paperwork that he said proved it all, with references to a 1787 peace treaty and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. Taking part in an odd and perplexing phenomenon popping up in cities across the country, Butler said the Bethesda mansion belonged to him because he is a Moorish American National. The Bethesda 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.īut the personable 28-year-old, known to wear a red fez, didn’t own the mansion he had simply slipped inside and claimed it. Like many people excited about a new home, Lamont Butler invited friends over to check his out. ![]()
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