Feud erupts in sovereign citizen movement over fake $200K license plate scheme

A branch of the "sovereign citizen movement" known as the Republic of Texas is enraged with David Straight, a so-called "guru" of the movement who charges exorbitant fees for people to allegedly become immune from the laws of the United States, and have kicked him out of their fake republic.

The feud concerns Straight's racket of selling fake license plates, reported The Daily Beast on Tuesday.

For a while, Straight and the Republic of Texas were natural allies, writes The Daily Beast's Will Sommer.

"In 1997, one branch of the group kidnapped two people and held them as hostages, demanding the release of a 'Republic of Texas” member who had been arrested for pushing fake legal documents. After a weeklong standoff with law enforcement, one of the group’s members was killed after shooting at a police helicopter,' said the report.

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As for Straight, he has "become one of the leading figures of the sovereign citizen movement," charging people hundreds of dollars for seminars where he "rambles for hours about his oddball legal ideas, drawing complex diagrams on a white board and claiming that the American Bar Association is responsible for most of the problems in the United States."

Straight's latest scheme, though, has put him at odds with other antigovernment extremists.

"Since at least March, Straight has been ... offering tiny, nine-foot plots in the 'Republic of Texas' for $387," said the report. "But an add-on deal sold by Straight as part of the land deal went even further, selling a 'Right to Travel' package for $512 that offered a fictitious 'Republic of Texas' license plate. On his website, Straight claims any driver with the license plates couldn’t be legally pulled over for a traffic stop. Sweetening the deal, Straight claimed a holder of the plates could even sue any police officer who pulled them over for substantial damages, with Straight’s wife as their lawyer. The license-plate deal angered the sovereign citizens in the Republic of Texas, who appear to be concerned about running. In a pop-up on their website, the group claimed they’ve been deluged with unhappy customers complaining about Straight."

He has reportedly made almost $180,000 selling these fake plate packages, and sovereign citizens are warning each other it's a scam after many people who bought them were arrested.

All of this comes as Straight's wife was just arrested near Fort Worth on charges of "carrying a weapon in a prohibited place, illegal burning, resisting arrest, and assault a police officer or judge."

The sovereign citizen movement is infamous for its bizarre claims that the United States is a fictional entity and that, using a combination of made-up legal ideas, people can declare themselves exempt from laws and be their own government. One of its adherents, Pauline Bauer, was a high-level defendant in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and many other defendants in that assault have unsuccessfully tried to deploy sovereign citizen arguments to be released.