A Brooklyn Park couple pleaded guilty to 12 counts of fraud in connection with a $114 billion — yes, with a B — harassment scheme whose "financial and economic terrorism" victimized numerous public servants in response to their Minneapolis home's foreclosure nearly three years ago.
Thomas W. Eilertson, 45, and Lisa Joan-Connery Eilertson, 49, pleaded guilty in Ramsey County District Court and are scheduled to be sentenced June 7 for the plot that targeted prosecutors, a judge, Hennepin County Sheriff Richard Stanek and various bureaucrats.
The case began when the defendants' Minneapolis home in the 4400 block of Cedar Avenue S. was foreclosed upon by their mortgage company in 2009, resulting in a Hennepin County sheriff's sale that December. In response, the Eilertsons — on the advice of someone they met on the Internet — began filing Uniform Commercial Code liens against anyone associated with their economic misfortune.
For example, the complaint pointed out, the Eilertsons filed one claim against attorney Steven Bruns for $5 million because of "a trespass." Bruns represented the lender during the foreclosure.
Each lien was filed at the Minnesota secretary of state's office in St. Paul under the name "Blessings of Liberty," leading the defendants to believe this would shield them from civil and criminal liability.
While the defendants filed numerous and sometime duplicative liens against a host of individuals covering 2009 and 2010, the lion's share of the $114 billion total came from a May 27, 2010, claim against seven public employees to the tune of $110.2 billion, according to court documents.
Those named in the 267-page claim included Stanek, County Attorney Mike Freeman and two of his assistants, and others in county government.
In February 2010, the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office referred the case to St. Paul police.
