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Bogus court filings spotlight little-known sect

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — From New Jersey to California, police,

courthouse officials and real estate agents are being confronted

with a baffling new problem: bogus legal documents filed by people

claiming to follow an obscure religion called Moorish Science.

Their motives range from financial gain to simply causing a

nuisance.

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No one is more exasperated by the phenomenon than the leaders of

the century-old Moorish Science Temple of America, who say the

growing crop of “paperwork terrorists” has nothing to do with their

faith or its teachings.

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“It’s just distressing that some individuals would take something

as pure and righteous as this organization and try to tarnish it,”

said Christopher Bennett-Bey, grand sheikh of the group’s temple in

Charlotte, one of more than 30 located around the

country.

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It’s not clear why the flimflam artists are invoking the group. But

one expert said divisions dating back to the death of the sect’s

founder have resulted in small pockets of people who claim to be

followers but have little understanding of the faith.

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The bad filings include deeds, liens and other documents, often

written in confusing pseudo-legal jargon and making outlandish

claims about being exempt from U.S. law. In some cases, filers have

actually moved into foreclosed houses and changed the locks. Other

times, people seeking to slip their mortgages have used bogus

documents to waste the time and money of their banks. Fake liens

have also been maliciously filed to target enemies.

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“The ideas are particularly attractive to people who are hurting

economically, although let’s be candid: For some people it’s just

pure greed,” said Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project

for the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala.

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Law enforcement can pursue theft or fraud charges if a case

warrants it, but states’ laws vary on whether filing sham paperwork

is a crime in itself. Lawmakers in North Carolina failed to pass a

law making bad filings a crime this year.

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National numbers on the scheme aren’t available, but the area

around the largest city in North Carolina has been a hot spot. In

2011 alone, more than 200 bogus legal documents have been filed

with Mecklenburg County by people claiming to be followers of

Moorish Science, with another few dozen in neighboring Union

County.

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As long as a legal document is properly formatted, county officials

have to file it alongside valid paperwork, according to Mecklenburg

County Register of Deeds David Granberry. The content, however, is

often outlandish and includes strange punctuation and

capitalization or lengthy digressions about the 14th Amendment, the

Constitution or maritime law.

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“If we can legally reject it for some reason, we’ll do that. But as

soon as they figure out how to correct it, we’ll get a stream of

these documents because word gets around,” he said.

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Having a bogus lien or deed legally purged requires the county – or

the subject of the lien – to go through a potentially lengthy

process that often involves hiring lawyers. A document with a $50

filing fee can easily end up costing the county $2,000, Granberry

said.

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The tactics being used by the Moor impostors originated with

tax-dodgers and white supremacist groups in the 1980s, experts

said.

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“These are people who engage in the most bizarre leaps of logic.

They literally believe that if you lowercase the `u’ in the phrase

United States, you will break the bonds of government tyranny and

become a free man,” said Potok, the expert with the Southern

Poverty Law Center.

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The occupation of foreclosed homes appears to be a new wrinkle,

Potok said. Such cases have been recorded in Virginia, Georgia,

North Carolina, California and elsewhere. They often end in the

arrests of the squatters.

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Joe Pipitone, a realtor in Vineland, N.J., encountered the problem

earlier this year. After selling a home that had been foreclosed

on, he got a call from the new owner to say that someone was

already living in the $300,000 house. Pipitone was baffled to find

that a deed had been filed claiming ownership by a woman saying she

was a member of the Moorish Science Temple. Police said the woman,

who was arrested and held on $85,000 bond, had changed the locks

and put the utilities in her name.

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“I’ve been selling real estate for 15 years, and I’ve never seen

anything like this,” Pipitone said. “You’d think nobody would be

stupid enough to try something like this.”

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Leaders of the largest Moorish Science group are baffled by the

tactic.

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“I don’t understand the underlying motive,” Bennett-Bey said. “I

think it’s just out of convenience, or they’re looking for some

status.”

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Moorish Science followers trace their faith back to 1913 and revere

its founder, North Carolina native Timothy Drew, as a prophet. They

call him the Noble Drew Ali. The faith blends aspects of Islam with

elements of other faiths and philosophies, and has its own

scriptures, generally called the Holy Koran or the Circle 7 Koran.

The Moorish Science Temple taught that the people called blacks

were actually the descendants of “Asiatic Moors” or Moroccans who

had been in North America for hundreds of years.

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Establishing a base in Chicago, the group aimed to instill a sense

of pride in its members, decked out in fezzes and bearing identity

cards proclaiming “I am a citizen of the USA!” at a time when

blacks were legally relegated to second-class status. To make an

explicit link with their proclaimed Moorish heritage, members of

the group added “Bey” or “El” to their names. At its height, tens

of thousands of people belonged to the organization.

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“The Moorish Science of Temple of America was founded for the

express purpose of uplifting fallen humanity,” said Azeem

Hopkins-Bey, the group’s national spokesman. “We teach that our

members must learn to love instead of hate.”

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After Ali’s death in 1929, the group suffered a number of schisms

and lost followers to groups that included the Nation of

Islam.

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Today, numerous groups claim affiliation with Moorish Science. Some

consist only a handful of members and in many cases have little

understanding of the faith, said Spencer Dew, a lecturer at the

University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point

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“There are folks who call themselves Moors or Moes without knowing

anything about the history of Moorish Science,” said Dew, who

teaches a summer class for the Chicago Police Department on

religious groups and crime.

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The Moorish Science Temple of America is working to distance itself

from the people filing bogus legal claims, calling them “radical

and subversive fringe groups” in a recent statement. Moorish

leaders are looking into legal remedies, and Bennett-Bey has been

advising authorities on how to distinguish registered members from

impostors.

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“It’s like coming to this country and saying you’re an American

citizen,” he said. “If you haven’t gone through the process and

gotten the proper documentation, you can call yourself whatever you

want, but that doesn’t make it true.”

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