Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Vegan tied to Freemen claims he was duped

A Las Vegas man accused of writing a bogus check signed by anti-government Freemen leaders was a victim himself, his attorney contends.

Leonard Saye, 70, is charged with theft for sending a bogus U.S. Treasury draft for $14,600 to cover his mother's Feb. 12 burial in Texas.

"As I understand it, all he did was send a check for payment," said attorney Frank Cremen, who unsuccessfully attempted to have Saye released from jail Tuesday.

"He's an older gentleman, and I think he's a little gullible. I think poor Mr. Saye probably paid some money (for the check).

"He's probably as much a victim as anyone else. I do believe that he may have accompanied the check with a statement that said, 'If this check is no good, please call me.'"

But the owners of the Lamb Funeral Home in McLean, Texas, where Saye's mother lived, called police instead. Texas authorities notified Metro Police and the FBI, who arrested Saye on Monday at his 5456 Viscount Carlson Drive home near Maryland Parkway and Russell Road.

The check was signed by two Freemen leaders -- LeRoy Schweitzer and Daniel E. Peterson -- arrested last month on similar charges.

The pair's March 25 arrest spurred a standoff between federal agents and the Freemen, a group in Montana that rejects the U.S. government and its monetary system. FBI agents remained near the group's compound today.

Freemen have held seminars across the country and attendees can buy the bogus U.S. Treasury drafts, said FBI Special Agent Debbie Calhoun.

Saye owned property in Montana until recently, Cremen said, and lived there before moving to Las Vegas 30 years ago. But Cremen said he didn't believe Saye was a member of the Freemen.

A neighbor of Saye's expressed surprise at his possible connection to the Freemen.

"I don't believe it," said Wendy Lee, who has lived across the street from the Saye family for eight years. "He's a really nice, hard-working man. My father used to live next door to them. They're very much a regular family."

Lee said Saye and her husband often traded tools and worked on each other's cars. "He's just a very regular guy," she said.

She said, however, that Saye "did have objections to taxes sometimes, but I think we all can relate to that."

Saye's wife also occasionally complained about federal income taxes.

"His wife maybe mentioned that he had a little bit of trouble with the IRS," she said. "We didn't talk very much about it. Mostly we talked about our families."

Cremen said he was surprised when the court refused to release Saye on his own recognizance Tuesday.

"It should have happened," he said. "He's never been in trouble before. He's a local resident who has been here 30 years. He's not charged with a crime that involves a life term or the death penalty."

Saye was in Justice Court this morning, but the case was postponed until Thursday to give prosecutors time to contact Texas authorities to determine what their intentions are.

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