IRS arrests activist for criminal contempt charge

IRS arrests activist for criminal contempt charge

·         Crime & Courts

·         June 9, 2013

·         By: Jim Kouri

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An anti-tax activist was arrested on Friday after a federal grand jury in Detroit, Mich., handed down an indictment against her on the charge of criminal contempt.

Doreen Hendrickson, a resident of Commerce Township, Mich., was arrested by Internal Revenue Service agents for failing to comply with a federal judge's order to file amended tax returns.

Hendrickson and her husband, author and activist Peter Hendrickson, filed tax returns for 2002 and 2003 on which they claimed more than $20,000 in alleged fraudulent tax refunds.

The Michigan couple's tax filings were based on Peter Hendrickson’s controversial book, Cracking the Code, in which he states that income taxes are unconstitutional and that "only federal, state and local government employees are liable for the payment of income taxes."

Right or wrong, the author and his wife are being prosecuted by the powerful IRS and Justice Department.

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"I know Pete's theory have been discussed... many times. I read his Cracking the Code book and really believe he has the truth, but yet again the [criminal justice] system designed to protect us is so corrupt," stated an editorial appearing in the Daily Paul.

In May 2007, as part of a lawsuit against the Hendricksons filed by the Treasury Department's Tax Division, U.S. District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds in Detroit entered an injunction that prevents the Hendricksons from filing alleged fraudulent tax forms in the future.

In addition, Judge Edmunds told the Hendricksons that they must submit amended 2002 and 2003 returns to the IRS.

According to the indictment, Doreen Hendrickson violated Edmunds' injunction by failing to file amended 2002 and 2003 tax returns and by filing another alleged false tax return for the year 2008 that was based on the information contained in her husband’s book.

In 2006, the U.S. government had also filed a civil action against Hendrickson and his wife, requesting a judgment against them for the erroneous refunds issued to them and an injunction requiring them to file correct tax returns.

When the IRS filed a civil action against Hendrickson and his wife for the erroneous refunds paid to them, the government also filed six similar suits against some of his followers.

"If only the IRS -- an agency with corruption problems of its own -- would be so eager to go after people such as former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Rep. Charles Rangel and other political leaders who've played loose and fancy-free with U.S. tax codes," said Det. Sid Franes (NYPD-Ret.).