CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – The New Hampshire compound of a tax-evading couple convicted of amassing an arsenal of weapons and holding federal law enforcement officials at bay for months is being sold at auction – even as prospective buyers have been kept off the land because it could still be booby-trapped.
The auction of Ed and Elaine Brown’s fortress-like home on 100 acres in Plainfield is scheduled for Friday afternoon at U.S. District Court in Concord. The minimum required bid is $250,000. Elaine Brown’s dental office in Lebanon also is being auctioned.
Prospective bidders have not been allowed to tour the property, and last year, the U.S. Marshals Service cited the possibility of land mines and other explosives buried on the property as a complication.
The court has ruled that the Browns and any heirs have no claims to the properties or any assets from their sale. If the properties sell, the first entities to be paid would be the municipalities of Plainfield and Lebanon, which are owed back property taxes.
The Browns, who do not recognize the federal government’s authority to tax its citizens, had a nine-month standoff with authorities in 2007 after they were sentenced to five years in prison for tax evasion. U.S. marshals posing as supporters finally arrested them peacefully.