Wolffe Pleads Guilty
To Three Charges
By Sandy Vondrasek

A 50-year-old Randolph man pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in Portland, Me., to the three charges filed against him for his role in aiding convicted tax evaders Ed and Elaine Brown of New Hampshire. Robert Wolffe has been held in federal jail since he was arrested in September, along with three other alleged co-conspirators.

Wolffe, who ran for local state representative as a libertarian in 2006, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of conspiring to prevent officials from arresting the Browns, and a third charge of being an accessory after the fact.

According to court records, Wolffe and his wife Valeri visited the Brown’s Plainfield, N.H., home several times. Wolffe loaned the couple a car, provided armed security, and used his Highland Avenue home as a transfer point for supplies, after U.S. Marshals cut off mail service to the Browns.

Some of the packages delivered to the Browns included materials to make explosive devices, court records indicate.

The three charges filed against Wolffe carry a combined maximum sentence of more than 53 years in prison and up to 750,000 in fines. A sentencing date has not been set.

Wolffe’s three alleged co-conspirators remain in jail, pending a March trial.

They are charged with the same three crimes as Wolffe, with additional charges of bringing weapons to the Browns to prevent their arrest. Two are further charged with building explosives devices.

Court records indicate that Wolffe previously knew Ed Brown through an anti-government group called the U.S. Constitution Rangers. At the time of his arrest, Wolffe was reportedly state commander of the group.

This week, Wolffe’s lawyer would not comment on whether his client planned to testify at the other men’s trials.

Proceedings in these cases, initially conducted in Concord, N.H., have been moved to Maine. Federal judges in New Hampshire removed themselves from the cases, after one of the judges received repeated threats following the Browns’ trial last year.

Wolffe was initially scheduled to plead guilty to charges in November. However, at court he declined to plead, and instead produced some self-authored motions, questioning the legitimacy of the court and asking for a new lawyer.

He produced another document Tuesday in court, this one one demanding that the presiding judge be replaced by a qualified one. According to a report in the January 23 Concord Monitor, Judge George Singal assured Wolffe that he was indeed a valid judge, and the proceedings continued.

The Browns retreated to their fortified home in April 2007, after being convicted of tax evasion, and refused to surrender themselves to federal agents, or to serve their prison terms. In public statements and web postings, they and some of their supporters pledged violent resistance, should federal authorities come to arrest them.

One month after Wolffe and the other three men were arrested, the Browns were taken into custody without incident by undercover U.S Marshals posing as supporters. The Browns are currently serving 63-month prison sentences for tax evasion.