You Can Run But You Cannot Hide was evicted from Plymouth offices in 2007

Deadbeat “ministry” run by Bradley Dean Smith given the boot under court order for nonpayment of rent.

By Karl Bremer

Bradley Dean Smith, aka “Bradlee Dean,” and his Annandale-based anti-gay hate “ministry” found out that you can run, but you cannot hide—from the landlord. In 2007, Smith’s Old Paths Church Ministries, dba You Can Run But You Cannot Hide, was evicted under court order from its offices in the Bass Lake Business Centre II in Plymouth for nonpayment of rent.

The eviction was the result of a complaint filed against Old Paths Church Ministries in Hennepin County Housing Court on June 7, 2007, by its landlord, Bass Lake Realty LLC of Minneapolis.

According to Hennepin County Housing Court records, an eviction hearing was held June 21, 2007. A judgment against Old Paths Church Ministries and a “writ of recovery of premises” was issued the same day. It appears that Smith had flown the coop by then, because court records state that the writ of recovery was returned six days later and had to be re-sent to a forwarding address.

Although Old Paths Church Ministries was never served, court records state the writ of recovery of premises was satisfied on July 5, 2007.

At the same time Old Paths Church Ministries was welshing on its rent due Bass Lake Realty, it was operating as a self-described “sham” ministerial trust and owned a house and property in rural Annandale valued at $361,600. The house was—and still is—occupied by Smith, who was paid a $45,887 housing allowance by You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International in 2009. Smith still lives there, but the property was transferred into his name in 2009 after he and his sidekick Jake MacAulay took legal action to escape from their sham trust.

No 2007 tax records are available for either Old Paths Church Ministries or You Can Run But You Cannot Hide, so it’s not known what either entity’s income was that year.

Also unknown is the amount of rent that deadbeat tenants Old Paths Church Ministries failed to pay. Neither Smith nor Bass Lake Realty LLC returned phone calls regarding this story.



This is the latest in an ongoing Ripple in Stillwater investigative series on Bradley Dean Smith and his Annandale “ministries.” For more, read:

http://tinyurl.com/ycr-sham-ministry

http://tinyurl.com/ycr-and-irs

http://tinyurl.com/ycr-and-dayton

http://tinyurl.com/ycr-and-embassy-of-heaven

http://tinyurl.com/ycr-lawyers-up

You Can Run But You Cannot Hide responds to the 'radical media' through its tax lawyer

Annandale “ministry” treasurer also files complaint with cops about Ripple in Stillwater—and drags Michele Bachmann’s name into it.

By Karl Bremer

“My life’s an open book,” Bradley Dean Smith, aka "Bradlee Dean," bellowed on his anti-gay, hate-talk radio show January 15. But when it comes to having a peek at the mysterious finances and real estate deals of Smith’s Annandale “ministry,” You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International (YCR), Smith will go to extraordinary means to slam that open book shut.

Since Ripple in Stillwater began its investigation of Smith’s YCR nonprofit, along with its sister nonprofit Old Paths Ministry Inc., Dean has had YCR’s treasurer register a complaint with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office regarding my articles, and had one of his lawyers send a three-page letter to the parent company of Minnesota Independent complaining about coverage of his organizations by “some reporters.” The letter is on the YCR website.

H. Douglas Duncan, a Lodi, CA-based lawyer who prepared YCR’s 2009 federal tax returns, claims in his missive to the American Independent News Network that reporters “have engaged in baseless innuendo and supposition” in writing about YCR. “Further, they have drawn unfounded conclusions which imply that investigations and criminal proceedings were both pending and warranted. Neither is the case.”

In a series of articles, Ripple in Stillwater examined the sham ministry trusts under which Smith had his two organizations organized by Glen Stoll of Edmonds, WA, in 2005, as well as the curious Wright County real estate transfers between Smith, Old Paths Church, Old Paths Church Ministries, and Smith’s connections to the Oregon based anti-tax religious cult, Embassy of Heaven.

Bradley Dean Smith declined to comment for those articles.

Duncan defended the use of trusts as “a valid tool utilized by individuals, for profit and not-for-profit organizations,” he wrote. With regard to the sham trusts set up for Smith by Stoll, he claimed that “although the trust structure was legally valid, You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International independently determined that the trusts were not in the best interest of the organization, nor were they in the best interest of the organization’s nonprofit purpose.

“In addition,” Duncan continued, “You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International independently determined that the information, initially provided by the promoter of the trusts, was false and that the establishment of the trusts were a result (of) fraud and misrepresentation by the promoters. You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International, at its own expense, filed a petition with the Tenth Judicial District Court to expose the fraud perpetrated by Glenn Stole (sic) and others.”

What Duncan fails to address is why it took Smith and YCR Secretary Jacob MacAulay more than three years to take legal action to get out of Stoll’s sham ministry trusts. Stoll had been under a permanent federal injunction prohibiting him from promoting or selling his trusts since June 2005—the same time as when he and Smith were doing business.

Stoll ignored the injunction order. The Justice Department sought to have him jailed for contempt in June 2006. Stoll remains in contempt of the 2005 injunction order with at least $50,000 in fines hanging over his head.

Oddly enough, Duncan comments in a footnote to his letter that “You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International should be applauded for exposing this type of fraud and misrepresentation. Many other nonprofit organizations, previously defrauded by this scheme, now have a pattern and a court ruling upon which they can rely to assist them in reclaiming full control of the assets of their organization.” He goes on to liken Smith and MacAulay to unfortunate victims of a Ponzi scheme of which they had no knowledge.

Duncan is also careful to note that “You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International is current on all tax reports, returns and liabilities. The tax filings by individual employees of You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International are current and there are no tax liabilities associated with those returns.”

In his letter, Duncan also defended the salaries of YCR board members and employees, noting that they are “determined by an independent compensation committee in full compliance with” tax laws.

According to YCR’s 2009 IRS Form 990, prepared by Duncan, YCR President Smith was paid $51,303 in compensation and $45,887 in housing allowance last year for a total of $97,190. YCR's Secretary Jacob MacAulay was paid $42,028 in compensation and $24,869 in housing allowance for a total of $66,897 in 2009. Four other “ordained ministers” with the group received a total of $41,555 in housing allowances.

In an obvious attempt to discourage further reporting on his clients, Duncan concludes: “From this point forward any reports stating information contrary to the facts stated above are baseless, inaccurate and will have been published with the full knowledge that the reports are false.” He then signs off “In support of a free (accurate and unbiased) press.”


SMITH RESORTS TO SHERIFF’S COMPLAINT
Smith took his book-closing one step further when he had YCR’s treasurer, Heather MacAulay of Annandale—Jacob MacAulay’s wife—register a complaint with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office about information she claimed had appeared on Ripple in Stillwater.

The sheriff’s report said MacAulay was “concerned” that information such as “where they live, what they earn, along with other information,” had appeared on Ripple in Stillwater.

Inexplicably, the report further stated that “Heather said the same information is blogged about Michele Bachmann. Heather said she is uncomfortable with this and that it is uncalled for.”

However, as treasurer for YCR, MacAulay should well know that salary information and addresses of a nonprofit’s property and offices are all a matter of public record. They can be found in public property tax records, IRS Form 990s, the Attorney General’s Office and the Secretary of State’s office. In fact, the MacAulay's home address is listed as the registered corporate office for You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International, Inc. in its Articles of Incorporation on file with the Secretary of State's office.

For the record, nothing has appeared on Ripple in Stillwater that can’t be found in public records—and most of it is online.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office sounded unimpressed with MacAulay’s complaint.

Bradley Dean Smith was given the opportunity to respond to a whole series of questions about his “ministry” and relationships with anti-tax organizations such as Glen Stoll’s and the Oregon-based Embassy of Heaven. He chose not to.

I'm happy that Smith has finally responded—sort of—through his attorney, to some of my questions. But he really should disabuse himself of the notion that sending his underlings to whine to the cops about public information being disseminated about his controversial little “ministry” is going to stop anyone from looking further into his affairs.

That’s really not “in support of a free press,” as his lawyer

would say. Or much of an “open book,” as Bradley Dean Smith would say.

Kansas abortion doctor killer Scott Roeder was affiliated with the same religious cult as Bradley Dean Smith of You Can Run But You Cannot Hide

Bradley Dean Smith was a member of the Embassy of Heaven until September 2010; Scott Roeder picked up much of his anti-government hatred from the Oregon extremists a decade before he gunned down Dr. George Tiller in 2009.

By Karl Bremer

What does Bradley Dean Smith, president of Annandale-based anti-gay hate ministry You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International (YCR), have in common with Scott Roeder, murderer of Kansas abortion provider Dr. George Tiller?

Both were affiliated with the Embassy of Heaven, a virulently anti-government religious cult in Oregon.

The Embassy of Heaven is described in “Investigating Terrorism and Criminal Extremism,” a 2010 report by the Institute for Intergovernmental Research funded by the Department of Justice, as:

“A religious/antigovernment group in Oregon headed by “Paul Revere,” the alias of a former computer analyst named Craig Douglas Fleshman. Fleshman started the Embassy of Heaven Church in 1987; it preaches a total separation from “earthly” government. Embassy members continue to make and sell the bogus license plates and other paraphernalia-18. Committed Embassy of Heaven adherents rarely ever show up for court dates and frequently go on hunger strikes when jailed.”

“Revere” himself has had a number of run-ins with the law over the years. In 1997, he and his family were evicted from their wooded property in Marion County, Oregon, for nonpayment of $16,000 in back taxes and jailed.

SMITH JOINED GROUP IN 2003

Smith, aka “Bradlee Dean” to his followers, was “baptized” into the extremist organization in 2002, according to his identification card verification posted on the group’s website. His ID card was issued on September 30, 2003, and expired September 30, 2010.

The Embassy of Heaven website states:

“On file is a signed statement by Bradley Smith renouncing allegiance to the world and declaring citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven.
“We are fellow citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, the Government of God, which was handed to the Apostles by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper (Luke 22:29), We fulfill the Great Commission by traveling from place to place using old and modern conveyances. Our government is not of this world, and we expect to be held accountable to the laws from which we come. Our conduct is not an offense if it not an offense in the Kingdom of Heaven.”

When Smith and YCR hired Glen Stoller in 2005 to set up what they later described in court documents as “sham ministries” for YCR and its sister organization Old Paths Church, Stoller promised that part of the package would be identification cards and other materials from the Embassy of Heaven. But clearly, Smith already was involved with the group at least two years prior to that.

THE ROEDER CONNECTION

Roeder, who was sentenced to life in prison for gunning down Tiller in a Wichita, KS, church during a Sunday service in 2009, also shared allegiance to the Embassy of Heaven with Smith.

A federal investigation was launched after Tiller’s murder to determine whether Roeder acted alone or in concert with any organization.

According to the Wichita Eagle:

Documents from his 1996 divorce case indicate he was affiliated with the Embassy of Heaven Church in Stayton, Ore., during much of the 1990s. The group's leader, who goes by the name Paul Revere, wrote letters to Johnson County court officials in 1999 offering to pay Roeder's back child support.

"We have faithfully informed the District Court Trustee that Scott P. Roeder is on assignment for us in the mission field and that we are handling his affairs," Revere wrote Aug. 10, 1999.

Revere said that Roeder wanted his wife and child to “return to his side,” saying that would be biblical.

Revere told the Kansas City Star on Thursday that the Embassy of Heaven was “a country.”

“We represent the Kingdom of Heaven, God's government on Earth,” he said. The group issues its own driver’s licenses, identity cards and passports for members. Over the years, followers have found themselves in legal trouble for rejecting government authority. Revere said he didn't know Roeder had been charged in Tiller’s death. After checking Roeder’s file, Revere said Roeder during the 1990s had been training with and receiving materials from the Embassy of Heaven but never “made his statement of citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Revere said he never met Roeder and that after he sent the letters to the court on Roeder's behalf, he never heard from him again.

Revere said his group did not condone Tiller's killing. “Killing anybody is a violation of our law,” he said.

Roeder's ex-wife, Lindsey Roeder, said in an interview last week that she told the FBI about the Embassy of Heaven.

“I used to hide their literature from Scott,” she said. “He wanted to send the title of our car to them.”

Like Roeder, Smith is also rabidly anti-abortion, although there is no indication that Smith has ever advocated violence against abortion providers.

Smith has declined to comment on his "citizenship" with the Embassy of Heaven.

EMBASSY OF HEAVEN HONOR ROLL
Other fringe elements affiliated with the Embassy of Heaven include:

John Joe Gray, who has been at a standoff with law enforcement authorities at his home in rural Texas for over a decade. According to ABC News:

John Joe Gray got into trouble with the law last spring, when a car he was riding in was stopped for speeding. According to the state trooper who pulled him over, Gray was carrying a pistol — illegally .

“He said, ‘You got a permit?’” Gray recalls. “I said, ‘No, sir, it’s my God given right to carry.’”

The two men ended up in a scuffle, with Gray biting the officer. Later indicted, Gray refused to appear in court, saying that he acted in self-defense and that the entire judicial system is corrupt and conspiring against him. In protest, he now refuses to obey the law, including paying taxes, and has lived inside an armed camp for the past six months. His compound — which has no electricity or running water — is about an hour’s drive from Waco, the scene of the deadly Branch Davidian stand-off in 1993.

Inside the compound, the vehicles have license plates “issued” by a church called the Kingdom of Heaven. The American flag hangs upside-down. A sign that reads “Kids Inside” stands above a bunker, and sandbags, presumably to be used for cover in case of an attack, rest on the dirt ground. Two years worth of food is stockpiled. And throughout the compound, all the adults carry weapons.

If authorities try to take the children by force, Gray says he will defend himself — and his right to live as a free man — to the end. “I’m willing to die for it, because how else could you live,” Gray says. “They can take my land, you know, OK. They can take my life. But they can’t take my freedom.”

Richard Allen Shiarla, who, according to the Orlando Sentinal, “found God, rid himself of most of his earthly possessions and established Embassy of Heaven Church” in Longwood, FL. As pastor of his church, the Sentinal reports, Shiarla now goes by his “Christian name” of Richard Allen.

According to the Sentinal:

Allen, 38, is trying to have the house at 112 Pineapple Court in Longwood declared tax-exempt because it is part of Embassy of Heaven Church. The house serves as the pastor's home and the church's spiritual counseling center. Baptisms are performed in the backyard swimming pool. The Internal Revenue Service and the state of Florida recognize Embassy of Heaven as a legitimate church, he said.

The church's claim for tax exemption may seem reasonable. The property was deeded to the church, and most churches pay no property taxes. But Allen's approach has created a stir at the Seminole County Property Appraiser's Office.

Allen and his flock, which numbers between 50 and 100, say the church is a sovereign nation and the church building is a foreign embassy. He said he established the embassy under the rules of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, a document signed into law by President Richard Nixon in 1972.

That document requires all signatories to recognize missions established on their soil, and it makes all such missions parties to the convention.

Some members of the church have given back their drivers licenses, abandoned their Social Security numbers and carry red ''passports'' identifying them as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. Some of their cars have tags issued by the church.

Allen acknowledges those actions are similar to high-profile, anti-government groups, but he said he has no quarrel with the government. Allen and his followers simply answer to a higher authority, he said.

Patrick Henry Talbert was a key associate of Gerald Payne, who along with Talbert was convicted in 2001 for running a $500 million Ponzi scheme. Talbert is serving a 19-year prison sentence on multiple counts of conspiracy, fraud, and money laundering for his role in the Payne Ponzi scheme.

Talbert was a self-declared “sovereign citizen” and “Ambassador of the Kingdom of Heaven” who proclaimed that ordinary laws and courts had no jurisdiction over him. He advanced that argument in court when charged in 1997 with multiple counts of racketeering, fraud and other crimes related to a separate pyramid scheme. At one point, Embassy of Heaven leader Richard Allen Shiarla intervened on Talbert’s behalf.

The Kingdom of Heaven held its own “ecclesiastical court” and found Talbert guilt of “coveting thy neighbor’s property.” The Kingdom of Heaven offered victims of Talbert—a dozen elderly investors—restitution if they didn’t pursue state charges against Talbert.

Talbert’s novel defense ultimately got him a 10-year prison sentence for his crimes.

Michael Didier is a deadbeat dad in Washington who tried to avoid paying child support for his three children after his wife petitioned for separation and child support in 2004. Michael said the state lacked jurisdiction because he was a “member of the Kingdom of Heaven and served only Jesus Christ.” Michael also claimed he could not pay child support because “as a church “missionary,” he did not have an income and had taken a “vow of poverty” that precluded him from accepting paid employment.”

However, Didier’s wife told the court that he made thousands of dollars advising people on setting up churches and trusts to avoid paying taxes. According to court records, the address Didier gave the court is the same address as Glen Stoll’s Remedies at Law, which organized Bradley Dean Smith’s sham ministerial trusts.

The court didn’t buy it, calling Didier’s reasoning “circular.” Michael Didier was ruled in contempt of court and ordered to pay $4,900 in child support.


IS SMITH STILL A 'CITIZEN'?
Although the Embassy of Heaven advocates checking out of government altogether, and many of its adherents have been convicted of tax evasion and other crimes, there is no evidence at this time of any illegal tax activity on the part of Bradley Dean Smith, YCR or Old Paths Church.

Based on an examination of Wright County tax records for property owned by Smith, Old Paths Church and the Family Defense League - the sham trust they established with Glen Stoll - it appears that taxes on those properties have always been paid on time and in full. Vehicles seen at YCR’s Annandale headquarters also appear to be properly licensed, rather than bearing license plates from the Kingdom of Heaven.

Bradley Dean Smith severed his ties with Glen Stoll and his illegal tax scams in 2009. It’s not known whether Smith did the same with the Embassy of Heaven when his "citizenship" in the Kingdom of Heaven expired last September.


Top right photo: Bradley Dean Smith, from Embassy of Heaven website.
Top left photo: Scott Roeder, murderer of Wichita, KS, doctor George Tiller.
Center image: Embassy of Heaven ID card verification for Bradley Smith.

Did creationist theme park operator's conviction for tax evasion lead to Bradley Dean Smith's divorce from 'sham ministry' architect?

Notorious Washington tax cheat Glen Stoll worked with You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International to set up 'ministerial trusts.'

By Karl Bremer

Did Annandale-based anti-gay hatemonger Bradley Dean Smith cut loose his You Can Run But You Cannot Hide (YCR) “ministry” from tax violator Glen Stoll in 2008 because the federal government sent one of Stoll’s other whacky ministerial trust customers to prison on federal tax violations the year before?

Kent Hovind, along with his wife, Jo Hovind, ran Creation Science Evangelism in Pensacola, FL. Among the group’s endeavors was Dinosaur Adventure Land, a sort of cheesy theme park for creationists. Working with Stoll’s Edmonds, Wa-based Remedies at Law beginning in 2002, the Hovinds concocted the Creation Science Evangelism Ministry under the auspices of a corporation sole, “Director of Ecclesiastical Enterprises,” as trustee in 2003. Stoll issued the ministry a business license from the “Kingdom of Heaven” — the same “Kingdom of Heaven” in which Bradley Smith claimed citizenship.

The Hovinds’ enterprise as described in a 2009 property forfeiture proceeding filed in U.S. District Court in Pensacola sounds virtually identical to Bradley Smith’s “ministerial trusts” for YCR. Except that Kent and Jo Hovind got caught using their ministry to evade taxes, and Kent is still serving a 10-year sentence in federal prison. Kent Hovind, known as “Dr. Dino,” was convicted by a jury in 2006 on 58 charges including failing to pay payroll taxes for his employees, structuring financial transactions to avoid reporting requirements, and “corruptly endeavor[ing] to obstruct and impede the due administration of the internal revenue laws.” Jo Hovind was convicted on 44 counts.

Among the properties ordered forfeited to pay off the Hovinds’ more than $600,000 judgment was Dinosaur Adventure Land. Stoll tried to get his hands on some of the Hovinds’ property before it was forfeited, claiming to be a trustee, but was rebuffed by a federal judge.

Kent Hovind is currently jailed at Jesup Federal Correction Institution in south Georgia. He recently appealed to have his sentence vacated. Jo Hovind was sentenced to a year in prison and was released in 2009.

At about the same time the Hovinds’ tax-evasion convictions and property forfeitures were making news in 2008, Bradley Smith, known to his follows as "Bradlee Dean," and his “co-minister” Jacob MacAulay began to take legal action to sever their ties with Stoll. Coincidence?

You Can Run But You Cannot Hide was originally established in 1999. It filed federal IRS Form 990s in 2001 and 2002. Smith established his YCR and Old Paths Church trusts with Stoll in 2005, but no federal Form 990s can be found for YCR at either the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office or Guidestar.org until 2008, when it was reincorporated as You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International, Inc.

“2008 is this ministry’s first year of existence,” YCR’s 2008 Form 990 states. Technically, that may be correct, as “International” wasn’t added to the group’s name until 2008. But Bradley Smith had been operating an organization under the You Can Run But You Cannot Hide banner for nearly a decade prior to that.

What happened to YCR’s taxes between 2003 and 2008? Were they ever filed? Did YCR employees pay taxes? Did the IRS even know of YCR’s existence?

Smith and YCR declined to comment on their relationship with Stoll or the IRS.

According to the permanent federal injunction ordered against Stoll in 2005, Stoll falsely told his customers that “church ministries are not required to notify the IRS of even their existence, much less their exemption from taxation and return filing requirements.”

The federal injunction states that Stoll also falsely advised his customers to take such illegal tax-avoidance steps as classifying employees as independent contractors, not report compensation to the IRS and to make payments to their ministerial trusts rather than individuals so income can be more easily hidden from the IRS.

And, court documents state, Stoll advised and assisted his customers in transferring their pre-tax income to offshore bank accounts in the Caribbean and advised customers on how to circumvent U.S. banking laws.

Next in this investigation of Bradley Dean Smith's tax-exempt Annandale, MN-based "ministry," You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International, we’ll take a closer look at the extremist anti-tax religious cult Embassy of Heaven, for whom Smith renounced his allegiance to the world and pledged his citizenship.

Photos of 2010 GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer with the YCR gang (top), and Tim Pawlenty with YCR Co-Minister Jacob MacAulay, from theawl.com.