Freemen Checks Land Couple In Jail

A suburban St. Paul couple were arrested Wednesday, charged in a sealed grand jury indictment with using counterfeit certified checks signed by the leader of the Montana freemen anti-government group.

The indictment was sealed because not everyone named in it as a defendant has been arrested yet. But in court papers for a detention hearing, federal prosecutors said Marilyn and Ronald Kerkvliet of Inver Grove Heights obtained fraudulent money orders and banker’s checks from freemen leader LeRoy Schweitzer. In total, the couple obtained more than $75 million in fraudulent financial documents from Schweitzer and others.

Chief Magistrate Judge Franklin Noel ordered the couple be held without bond and scheduled a detention hearing for today.

Prosecutors said the defendants last year sent two of the money orders - for $200,000 and $100,000 - to pay for federal back taxes. The couple also distributed checks to others who used them to pay back taxes and other debts. Some of the checks were accepted and processed for payment.

, DataTimes