Ronald Lutz, a 57-year-old California man who has been one of the leading practitioners of the Redemption scheme, was sentenced on August 27 to 17 years in prison for attempting to buy Cadillacs from DeLorean Cadillac in the Cleveland, Ohio suburb of Lakewood, using fake financial documents. The conviction included multiple counts of forgery, extortion, intimidation and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. Lutz came to Ohio last January to work with several northeastern Ohio sovereign citizens to obtain the vehicles using Redemption sight drafts. However, Lutz and three other men, targeted a dealership that was familiar with the scheme, having been victimized in a similar manner by a different group of redemptionists in 1999. Once in jail, Lutz then filed involuntary bankruptcy on the Cadillac dealership and on officials involved in the case, in addition to issuing a number of other bogus filings and demands.

The Cleveland office of the Anti-Defamation League issued a statement that they are “pleased with the great effort expended by Cuyahoga County Assistant Prosecutor Dan Kasaris. It would have been easy for him and the entire County Prosecutor’s Office to not treat the matter of Ronald Lutz and the redemptionist movement with seriousness. The prosecutors understood that this movement is extremely anti-government, victimizes innocent citizens and is not to be taken lightly.” Mark Pitcavage, National Director of Fact Finding for the Anti-Defamation League, who testified in the case as an expert witness providing background on the sovereign citizen movement and redemptionist tactics, also had high praise for Kasaris and the Cuyahoga County District Attorney’s office.

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