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ISSN: 2710-4028 DOI: doi.org/10.54208/1000/0006 123
Sovereign Citizens and QAnon: The Increasing Overlaps with a Focus on
Child Protective Service (CPS) Cases
Christine M Sarteschi, PhD, LCSW
Chatham University
Abstract: Researchers have observed that the relationship between sovereign citizens and Child Protective Services
(CPS) is inherently antagonistic (Hines, 2021). A number of high-profile CPS cases indicate that increasingly some
QAnon adherents are adopting sovereign citizen tactics to regain custody of children. Conspiracy-oriented leaders
have specifically targeted CPS agencies with false claims that CPS trafficks children to harvest their organs and
blood. This descriptive article examines the increasing overlaps, focusing specifically on their intersection in child
custody cases. In at least one instance, these toxic and meritless strategies have led to murder. Utilizing extensive
review of news accounts and court documents, relevant case studies are documented that illustrate this developing
phenomenon.
Keywords: sovereign citizen ideology, QAnon, kidnapping, conspiratorial violence, child custody disputes,
child protective services
I. Introduction
Conspiracy theories and culture have a lengthy, well-
documented history in American politics (Barkun,
2013 Hofstadter, 1964). Two examples are the
“sovereign citizen” and “QAnon” phenomena. In line
with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and
the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), sovereign
citizens are defined as: individuals who are legally
citizens of a country, yet believe that their government
is not legitimate, and as a result believe themselves to be
immune from the laws of the United States (Sarteschi,
2020). This belief purportedly results in full immunity
from all government jurisdiction, laws, rules, taxes, etc.
Others categorized as sovereign citizens are those who
share similar beliefs but refer to themselves by other
names: living man or living woman, natural woman,
natural man, free person on the land, flesh and blood
person, etc. The sovereign citizen label also applies
when or “if a court or public officials deem them as
such because they were espousing views consistent
with sovereign citizen ideology” (Sarteschi, 2022b).
Thus, in this article, sovereign citizen is defined in a
functional sense: a person who believes conventional
law and state authority does not apply because state
authority is defective. Instead, their own interpretation
of law governs.
This article defines a QAnon believer as someone who
endorses the QAnon core narrative: that powerful elite
Democrats are operating secret pedophile rings that
abuse, traffick, and cannibalize children (Amarasingan,
&Argentino, 2020). The QAnon conspiracy theory
first emerged in 2016, correlated with the American
presidential election between Hillary Clinton and
Donald Trump (Rajan, et al., 2021). Of specific
importance were the leaks associated with the emails
of John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s then-campaign chair
(Amarasingan, &Argentino, 2020). QAnon believers
interpreted specific elements of the leaks to indicate
a secret child trafficking sex ring existed beneath a
family restaurant in Washington D.C. (Amarasingan,
&Argentino, 2020). This belief led to a man traveling
from North Carolina to rescue the children supposedly
trapped in tunnels beneath Washington D.C. After
surrendering to the police, he apologized and admitted
to making an “incredibly ill-advised decision” and that
his “intel on this wasn’t 100 percent” (Haag, &Salam,
2017, para. 3). Pizzagate, as the incident became known,
was one of the first serious crimes associated with the
QAnon conspiracy theory. Since then, researchers have
documented over 100 individuals who have committed
crimes in the United States based directly upon their
QAnon conspiracy beliefs (Jensen, &Kane, 2021).
doi.org/10.54208/1000/0006/006