Freemen Sympathizer Held For Trial

Wed., May 8, 1996

Associated Press

Freemen sympathizer Stewart Douglas Waterhouse was ordered held for trial Wednesday on a charge that he ran a roadblock and entered the freemen compound with an assault rifle.

Waterhouse, 37, is accused of being an accessory after the fact for eluding law officers to enter the compound northwest of Jordan, Mont., on March 29, four days after the standoff began.

He emerged from the compound and surrendered to FBI agents on April 27.

In a preliminary hearing Tuesday, U.S. Magistrate Richard Anderson ruled there was probable cause to hold Waterhouse for trial.

In testimony, FBI agent Randy Jackson testified that Waterhouse ran a roadblock, ignored Montana Highway Patrol officers pursuing him with lights and sirens on, and drove onto the property where about 20 anti-government freemen are holed up.

The freemen contend they are not subject to federal or state laws, but are sovereign citizens of their own country and are governed only by common law.

FBI agents have surrounded the freemen complex since March 25, when they lured two leaders of the group outside and arrested them. Some of the freemen are wanted on federal and state charges ranging from writing millions of dollars in worthless checks to threatening to murder a federal judge.

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