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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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