‘Sovereign citizen’ who skipped January 6 trial apprehended in Florida
A “sovereign citizen” who skipped his federal trial last summer on Jan. 6-related charges is now in custody after the FBI arrested him in Florida.
Victor Sean Dennison, 49, was arrested at Woodlake Condominiums in Clearwater, Fla., on Monday, according to multiple outlets. Federal court records show that Dennison is charged with failure to appear in addition to a bevy of other charges he already faces
Dennison appeared in federal court on Tuesday, and ordered into the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service for transfer to Washington, D.C., an FBI spokesperson told WSTP 10 Tampa Bay.
Roughly 2,500 who committed crimes at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, including more than 500 overtly violent offenders, have yet to be charged and arrested, Raw Story recently reported, based on estimates provided by citizen sleuths aiding the FBI investigations.
Known as “sedition hunters,” the sleuths have warned that the FBI must dramatically increase the tempo of arrests in order to hold offenders accountable before the statute of limitations runs out on Jan. 6, 2026.
RELATED ARTICLE: Secret letter: FBI must accelerate arrest of violent J6ers or risk time expiring
Judge Trevor N. McFadden issued a bench order for Dennison’s arrest in June 2023 after Dennison failed to show up for trial in D.C. federal court on charges of disorderly conduct and other alleged crimes related to his activity at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
In an email to his federal public defender following the order for his arrest last June, Dennison claimed that he had already surrendered his legal identity, while suggesting that the legal system of the U.S. government has no jurisdiction over him as a “living breathing man.”
The rambling missive also suggested that any actions by the court against him would constitute a “war crime.” He accused U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves of “treason” for purportedly ignoring crime in D.C. and giving Black Lives Matter protesters and antifa a free pass.
“Our founding fathers warned that it might come down to We The People, now here I stand putting ethics on the foreign court system,” Dennison declared.
Anthony Rickman, a Tampa Bay area defense lawyer, explained to Fox 13 that a sovereign citizen is “a citizen of their own body in their minds.”
The irony of Dennison’s case, Rickman said, is that if Dennison had showed up for his trial court date last year, he likely would have received probation or a relatively short prison sentence, but now he faces more serious charges.
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Dennison confirmed to the FBI that he went inside the U.S. Capitol, according to the statement of facts supporting his original charges. And he reportedly confirmed to agents that he posted a Facebook video of himself and another individual standing in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 7, 2021 and describing their experiences the day before.
“We’re like, okay, we’re in and we’re making headway and we’re getting in, and the cops are now backing off and that’s a symbol that we’re winning,” Dennison said in the video. “Okay, so here’s some more on that… the point she’s talking about, I had already gone inside, and I had a chance to inspect the scene and decided to remove myself from the area.”