International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation Volume 6 2023 128
passport” provides special legal privileges. Allan caught
the attention of police for driving a vehicle with an
illegal license plate that read “American State Citizen
Utah” (Lamoureux, 2023). When asked for his ID,
Allan refused, and responded “you are not allowed to
stop me. I am on your list” (presumably the list of those
with “diplomatic immunity”) (Police Activity, 2023).
Allan did eventually produce a passport and stated that
it said, “Do not stop. Do not detain” (Police Activity,
2023). These ideas match those discussed on ASN
message boards and taught in ASN seminars. When
officers attempted to remove Allan from his vehicle,
Allan was shot and killed by police after they suspected
that Allan was reaching for his gun (Weill, 2023). At the
time of this writing, the matter was under investigation
(Weill, 2023).
Another failed attempt to use ASN concepts occurred
when both David Straight and his spouse Bonnie were
arrested, separately, on the same day (April 10, 2023).
According to the arrest report, Bonnie Straight is
facing four total charges: initially carrying a weapon
in a prohibited place and illegal burning then resisting
arrest and assaulting a peace officer/judge during the
April 10, 2023 arrest (Sommer, 2023). David Straight
was arrested for driving without a license and not
properly displaying license plates (Gilbert, 2023).
Both Straights were detained, which is something not
supposed to happen to ASNs. The failure of ASN tactics
was noted by the Johnson County Sheriff’s office, the
arresting police agency, in a post on their Facebook
page:
On May 5, 2023, Bonnie Straight was reportedly
sentenced to five years of incarceration, though the
legal basis for that sentence has not been disclosed.
David Straight remains free but facing criminal
proceedings. The imprisonment of Bonnie Straight,
Please educate yourself about this group and
what they stand for. Mr. Straight makes hundreds
of thousands of dollars with the seminars across
the US and Canada teaching people how to
avoid going to jail and selling license plates that
he makes. These license plates ARE NOT legal
and you could be charged with having a fictitious
registration. His own seminars didn’t keep him
from going to jail.
(Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, 2023).
contrary to ASN doctrine and dogma, has triggered a
crisis in belief among some ASN adherents.
Relatedly, David Straight recently parted ways with
another sovereign citizen group that self-identify as
the “Republic of Texas.” This fictitious government’s
“president,” President Ford, accused David Straight of
selling $200,000 worth of illegal license plates (Sommer,
2023). The purported license plates were being offered
as private plates for “Texian – Americans.” The Republic
of Texas holds congressional meetings, has its own
silver and gold currency, and members are appointed
to branches of their own government, separate from
the United States (as they see it) (Fernandez, 2015).
The group has a history of violence, including a 1997
weeklong standoff with law enforcement that resulted
in one of its members being killed (Fernandez, 2015).
In 2015, the Republic of Texas was raided by the FBI
after they “subpoenaed” a Texas judge to appear for a
vigilante “court hearing” (Fernandez, 2015).
B. Bobby Lawrence &His Telegram Group
Bobby Lawrence operates a Telegram group entitled
“BobbyLawrence_1776 Re-ignited,” which (as of May
2023) has approximately 41,500 members. Relatively
little is known about Bobby Lawrence. According to
the ADL, he is the founder of “Protect Your Vote USA”
and “We the People USA” (ADL, 2021). Lawrence also
previously ran for the United States senate, to represent
Pennsylvania on the Republican ticket, but withdrew
before the 2018 primary (Ballotpedia, n.d.).
More recently, Lawrence has embraced conspiracy
theories. Lawrence was also featured in the September
2022 Shadowland docuseries. He is identified as the
advisor/mentor to Pauline Bauer (AKA PAULINE
BAUER-VESSEL :Pauline- :Bauer-EXECUTOR)
(Belinger, 2022). This atypical use of capital letters
and punctuation indicates Bauer’s sovereign citizen
affiliation. Lawrence specifically advised Bauer on
in-court sovereign citizen tactics. Thus far, all of her
attempts to utilize sovereign citizen ideas and tactics
in-court have been dismissed or rejected, and Bauer
was found guilty of both felony and misdemeanor
charges on January 24, 2023 (Department of Justice,
2023a). The Shadowland documentary was the first
time Lawrence’s connection to January 6th defendants
was revealed.

ISSN: 2710-4028 DOI: doi.org/10.54208/1000/0006 129
Lawrence also appears to have advised another Capitol
rioter, Howard Adams. On the eve of a December
2022 court hearing held in Florida, Lawrence posted
an “URGENT CALL TO ACTION” on Telegram,
asking other American Nationals to attend the hearing
to show their support for Adams. Adams also wrote
that the judge in the case “admitted that the court had
no jurisdiction over him due to his ...standing as an
American National,” and that the “judge further said
that if Howard had peers” (other American Nationals)
come to the courthouse, then “he would be tried by a jury
of his peers.” News reports indicate that about 50 self-
identified American Nationals subsequently gathered
outside the courthouse (Sandoval, 2022). Inside the
courtroom, they refused to stand when the Magistrate
entered the room, and therefore were removed. Adams
argued with the judge, and ultimately was remanded
to jail awaiting transfer to Washington D.C. (Sandoval,
2022). In total, there are at least 13 defendants (including
Bauer and Adams) facing charges in connection with
the Capitol Breach case who have deployed sovereign
citizen tactics in court (Weill, 2022). Adams pleaded
guilty to a felony charge for his involvement with the
Capitol Breach and was sentenced to eight months in
prison, 36 months of supervised release, plus fines and
restitution (Department of Justice, 2023b). Whether
Lawrence is advising other Capitol Breach defendants
is unclear.
C. Lawrence Telegram Offshoot Channel Focused on
CPS
Until recently, a Telegram offshoot group of Lawrence’s
community existed called “State National Mothers and
Fathers.” This population was mostly comprised of
parents who considered themselves “State Nationals ...
with adversarial issues with the courts, CPS/DHS, or
hostile exes, to support each other and pool resources.”
The group had over 200 members when the Telegram
group was deactivated in early 2023 for unknown
reasons.
Before the group shut down, members shared and
discussed unfounded beliefs about CPS and techniques
they believed will purportedly prevent these agencies
from removing their children. One suggestion was
to trademark and copyright the child’s name, and
subsequently sell the name as merchandise (Hines,
2021). Doing so, they explained, would allow one
to claim copyright infringement by CPS--for listing
the child’s name in a document and interfering with
commerce--which, they claim, results in orders
from CPS being destroyed (Hines, 2021). Claiming
intellectual property in personal names is a notorious
sovereign citizen strategy.
“Children are property” was a second common theme
in the group. Members explained that if CPS removes
a child from a home, then that action equates to theft,
which constitutes kidnapping or child abduction.
A variation of this strategy is the belief among some
that under “common law,” removing one’s child is
considered “theft of property.” Noteworthy here is
that common law is being used by the group in an
unorthodox manner, as foundational and absolute law,
as opposed to the more traditional notion of law based
on court decision legal precedents. Any government
attempt to garnish wages for child support was also
identified as illegal.
Other shared beliefs among group members included
that:
More specifically, Lawrence advises that “quo warranto
is a prerogative writ requiring the person to whom
it is directed to show what authority they have for
exercising some right, power, or franchise they claim to
hold.” Group members believed that once they became
ASNs, they were then immune from CPS interference.
1. CPS and Family Court are both corporations
and thus are nonexistent
2. CPS, as a corporation, cannot force someone
to “contract” with it (i.e., coercive contracts
equate to coercive slavery, which is illegal)
3. CPS targets single parents who are easy marks,
and takes children against their will for human
sex trafficking and
4. employing a demand for “quo warranto,”
a common law claim that requires proof of
authority, can defeat state and court operations.