‘Freemen’ Leaders Get Lengthy Prison Terms for Fraud, Robbery

BILLINGS, Mont. —  Leaders of the fiercely anti-government “Freemen” group, which grabbed the national spotlight in 1996 during a tense 81-day Montana standoff with the FBI, were given long prison terms Tuesday on charges of fraud and robbery.

LeRoy Schweitzer, often described as the kingpin of the loosely organized group, was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison for his part in what prosecutors called a huge scheme to defraud banks and cheat the U.S. government.

Eight other members of the Freemen received sentences ranging from probation to 15 years.

During their trials, major Freemen defendants kept up a relentless campaign of belligerent noncompliance, screaming epithets and threatening lawyers in an effort to show their disdain for federal authority.

That disdain continued at Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, with Schweitzer and other Freemen members refusing to enter the courtroom and watching the proceedings on television from a holding cell.

A number of Freemen, including Schweitzer, were found guilty of the conspiracy at a trial in July. At a separate trial, others were convicted of bank and mail fraud charges as well as charges stemming from the robbery of television news crews.

Throughout the trials, prosecutors portrayed the Freemen as swindlers who sought to defraud the U.S. banking system by printing their own money, setting their own liens and lying to tax authorities.

The Freemen, who reject the authority of the U.S. government, argued that they are political dissidents resisting a government gone haywire.

Schweitzer, 61, could spend the rest of his life in prison. Daniel Petersen, the No. 2 man in the group, was sentenced to 15 years.