Plea ends in probation for woman accused in ‘sovereign citizen’ plot
A woman pleaded guilty to conspiring to kidnap, convict and execute a random police officer as part of a domestic terrorist movement on Thursday.
Devon Campbell Newman, 68, said she was guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit false imprisonment, a gross misdemeanor.
Judge Elissa Cadish sentenced her to one year of probation.
Afterward, prosecutor Tom Carroll said, “The resolution reached is fair in light of the fact that she has no prior criminal record.”
As part of her sentence, Newman was ordered to have no contact with her co-defendant, David Allen Brutsche, 43.
Brutsche is set to stand trial March 10.
During a preliminary hearing in September, detective Scott Majewski testified that Brutsche and Newman trained with firearms, acted out kidnapping scenarios, constructed an apparatus to hold a kidnapped officer and produced videos explaining their actions.
The detective said the two defendants believed police officers had betrayed their oath to the U.S. Constitution and were guilty of treason.
Authorities have said both Brutsche and Newman are part of the sovereign citizen movement — a loosely formed group of people about 100,000 strong. The group doesn’t believe in U.S. laws or paying taxes, but mostly the members hate police, factors that make them a viable terrorist threat in the eyes of the FBI.
Brutsche, who lived in Las Vegas for about nine months at the time of his arrest, has denied an affiliation with the group, but espouses some of their principles after he says he was harassed by police while selling water on the Strip.
Brutsche and Newman were arrested at a warehouse on Valley View Drive, following a five-month investigation by police.
A police report said the pair “expressed a deep hatred” for police and targeted officers for “perceived violations of Constitutional Civil Rights” during traffic stops.
But Newman, a mother and paralegal who moved to Las Vegas from Los Angeles, said undercover officers were the ones who called a meeting in the warehouse where they were arrested. Everyone was supposed to gather and talk about the “persecution” of Brutsche while selling water on Las Vegas Boulevard, Newman told the Review-Journal in a jailhouse interview.
Brutsche also faces a felony charge for not registering as a sex offender in a separate case.
Contact reporter Francis McCabe at fmccabe@review journal.com or 702-380-1039.