Nuwaubians Arrested in Common-Law Scam

Three alleged members of the United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors, a black supremacist cult in rural Georgia, have been arrested in another case that illustrates how "common law" ideology has infected many black nationalist groups.

The men — William Carroll, Robert Dukes and Darius Sampson — were taken into custody in early October after allegedly filing a bogus $283 million lien against U.S. Postal Service bank accounts and property.

Police say the three then created fake checks — they called them "certified tender of payment certificates" and "statements of assignment in accounts" — and tried to use them to buy two luxury houses in Decatur.

Officials say the men, two of whom worked for the postal service, intended to sell the homes they bought and use the cash to purchase land in Bibb County to establish a new home for the cult. They face theft and identity fraud charges.

The Nuwaubians began operating as a Black Muslim group in New York in the 1970s, moving to Georgia's Putnam County in 1993. Once there, leader Dwight York and his followers launched a campaign against "white devils" and "house n------" that targeted almost everyone around who was not a Nuwaubian.

But this January, York pleaded guilty to a federal charge of transporting children across state lines for sexual purposes. He also pleaded guilty to 74 state counts related to child molestation, but that plea was thrown out after the judge in the case recused himself after making an improper sentencing suggestion. A state trial is now scheduled for Jan. 5.

The "common law" techniques allegedly used by the three Nuwaubians originated, ironically, in white supremacist groups of the 1970s and 1980s.

The Nuwaubians' interest in these methods goes back years. In 1999, a white common-law practitioner, Everett Leon Stout, filed both "arrest warrants" and multimillion-dollar lawsuits naming several Putnam County officials in the name of the Nuwaubians.

But Stout — who was wanted for passing a bogus $1 million check in Tennessee — disappeared almost immediately after his paperwork was submitted.