#2795: Jacob-Franz Dyck

The distinction between sovereign citizen activists and common crooks and frauds is a fuzzy one. Jacob-Franz Dyck – insofar as he is still around (we’re not sure) – is a case in point. Dyck, who (ostensibly) believes that U.S. laws don’t apply to him, is a serial harasser and felon who has been defrauding his way across Florida for a while with flamboyant and complicated schemes; in particular, Dyck has been filing sovereign deeds on houses he does not own and allegedly setting up trusts that would ostensibly protect other people’s property from foreclosure or seizure, as well as simulating legal processes by setting up various grand juries and sending lengthy pretend legal letters around – Dyck’s letters are template-constructed stuff that open with invoking the Messiah and a slew of Bible quotes before launching into an incoherent mess of arcane laws and imaginative nonsense, e.g. that banks cannot bring foreclosure actions in state courts that fly an American flag with yellow and gold fringes or that properties are protected from foreclosure by “pure trusts” and “land patents” that can never be broken: “With pure trusts you don’t have to pay taxes and the government can’t tell you what to do with your property”, Dyck tells his clients, who often go on to discover the hard way that such claims are based exclusively on Dyck’s imagination. Dyck is also a former dentist who was stripped of his dental license in 1988 and later spent some years as a self-professed “holistic healer” – as well as some years in prison around the turn of the century for grand theft.

 

Several of his accomplices, such as Gary Chenot and Khamma Inthavong (unlawful use of notary commission and a “simulated legal process” charge), have landed themselves in real and serious legal trouble as a result of buying into Dyck’s incoherent nonsense.

 

Diagnosis: Dingbat insanity, of course, but like those marketing alternative cancer cures, Dyck tends to target people who have landed themselves in real, difficult situations, and desperation is a powerful motivator. Dyck is ruining people’s lives, and insofar as he’s still around, he’s unlikely to have gotten any better. Take note of the name if you live in the relevant areas.