Power, telephone, Internet access cut to Browns' home
By PAT GROSSMITH
New Hampshire Union Leader Staff
Wednesday, Jun. 13, 2007
The federal government is attempting to make everyday life for convicted tax evaders Ed and Elaine Brown so uncomfortable they will surrender and begin serving their 63-month federal prison sentence.
Stephen Monier, the U.S. marshal in New Hampshire, today said the government has severed the Browns' telephone service, Internet access and power to their hilltop home in Plainfield.
He acknowledged, however, that other people are supplying the Browns with laptop computers, providing them with other internet access. Ed Brown also built his home with solar panels and windmills for power and also has backup generators.
But, Monier said, patience is a virtue and the federal government is prepared to wait out the Browns.
"We have no intention of assaulting the house," he said again today. "We are committed to end this peacefully."
He said there are no federal agents in Plainfield or surveillance teams in camouflage watching the fortified home at 401 Center of Town Road. The internet is rife with rumors, he said.
On Tuesday his office was swamped with callers -- at one point about 200 calls an hour were being handled -- saying, "Don't kill the Browns," "Leave them alone," and "They didn't do anything."
The calls, he said, were prompted by an Internet web site urging people to call his office as well as that of the Sullivan County sheriff and governor.
The Browns have been holed up in their home since last January after their convictions. He has threatened violence if federal agents attempt to arrest them.
Last Thursday, dozens of heavily armed federal agents and state troopers, including SWAT teams and military and explosives vehicles, converged on Plainfield. Agents had a court order to enter the West Lebanon building housing Elaine Brown's dental practice.
That morning, a man walking the Browns' dog inadvertently came upon a surveillance team of federal agents in camouflage in the woods at the end of the couple's driveway. He was taken into custody, questioned at length and released hours later uncharged.
Ed Brown said he is convinced the federal agents were going to storm his home that day but Monier denies that.
The Browns were convicted of plotting to hide their income to avoid paying federal income taxes on Elaine Brown's income of $1.9 million between 1996 and 2003.
They were also convicted of using $215,890 in postal money orders, written in amounts to avoid the tax reporting level, to pay for their home and her dental office.
The Browns were sentenced in absentia to 63 months in federal prison and ordered to forfeit $215,890 to the federal government.
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