Sovereign citizen Sylvia Lee sentenced in 2008 tax fraud case, promises appeal

OWATONNA — Sylvia Lee won’t do any further jail time in her nine-year-old tax evasion case, but remains determined to appeal based on her belief that the state has no authority to tax her or her properties.

The 67-year-old Lee, formerly of Medford, was first charged in 2008 with 11 felony tax evasion and fraud charges, and failed to appear for a court hearing in 2009. She was finally apprehended during a traffic stop in Wright County in November. After she announced her unwillingness to comply with court proceedings in her initial bail hearing, she was set a $100,000 bail and remained in jail until March, when she entered pleas to four of the 11 charges.

On Wednesday, she was sentenced to time served, plus several suspended sentences. She’s also due to repay more than $170,000 in restitution and a $10,000 fine.

In voluminous court filings and transcripts, Lee has long maintained that she never volunteered for U.S. citizenship and that she is a sovereign entity who has no liability for state or national taxes. It was on this basis, she said, that she refused to pay taxes from 2002 to 2005 on income from her job with the Veterans Administration, a real estate business and several rental properties.

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