Former soldier of fortune Thomas Bleming is renewing his primary challenge against Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., after being cleared of state charges for allegedly possessing counterfeit money.

The U.S. Secret Service and local police raided Bleming’s home Dec. 19 after residents of Lusk, Wyo., found and attempted to use fake $100 bills. Authorities found similar bills with a face value of more than $20,000 in Bleming’s home. He was slapped with state, but not federal, charges.

Bleming insisted on his innocence, explaining to the Lusk Herald the allegedly counterfeit cash was actually Buddhist “prayer money” – also known as hell money – that he acquired during a recent trip to Cambodia. The fake money is sometimes left in public to generate temporary glee.

The state charges were quietly dropped March 20, the Herald reported Thursday.

“I’m finally coming back down to ground, the last three months have been horrifying for me – to be accused of something I'm totally innocent of,” Bleming tells U.S. News.

Two years ago Bleming challenged Wyoming’s other senator, Republican John Barrasso, and suggested the FBI was trying to intimidate him with death threats to discourage him from disclosing the U.S. government’s “unofficial sponsorship” of his work.

But he’s not interested in speculating about possible political motives behind the now-dropped charges. He referred questions about the case to his attorney, Richard Jamieson.

Jamieson tells U.S. News "justice has prevailed" and thanked local and federal prosecutors for their work to resolve the case.

Bleming, shown lounging in cowboy boots, is trading in his military garb for a suit and tie.

Courtesy of Thomas Bleming

"You can like his political views or not, but it cannot be denied he is a true American hero," Jamieson says, noting Bleming is a decorated Vietnam War veteran.

Bleming’s career began with service in Vietnam. In the following decades he guarded white farms in Rhodesia, repaired Somali machinery, went shopping for weapons in the former Yugoslavia and worked to topple authoritarian governments in Suriname, Togo and Panama – where he was jailed for a failed assassination attempt against leader Manuel Noriega. He spent time with the Karen ethnic rebels in Myanmar in 2007-2008 and has flirted with retiring in West Papua – where anti-Indonesia rebels, he says, have offered him a position training troops.

"I assassinated a guy one time. I can't say where, but he had it coming to him," Bleming told U.S. News last year, after jumping into the race. "He was fairly easy. He was a bad guy. He was well-deserving of what he got.”

In 2012 Bleming lost to Barrasso with 5,077 votes to the incumbent’s 73,498, but he believes his chances have improved this time around.

Bleming has whittled his campaign pitch to just two issues, despite his expansive blend of libertarian and anti-corporate views – including admiration for whistleblower Edward Snowden, opposition to gun control and support for single-payer health care.

“I’m two years older now and a lot wiser,” he says. “My campaign is about the right to marry who you want and light up a joint.”

Support for legalizing marijuana and same-sex marriage – increasingly popular in national polls – is growing in Wyoming, Bleming says.

“America is at a crossroads now, and there’s no stopping this reaching for liberty and freedom – the liberty to toke a joint and the freedom to love who you want,” he says. “This election will prove that, it will deal with freedom, the right to rule yourself in your own right.”

Bleming says his embrace of same-sex marriage rights stems from knowing gay people in long-term relationships and from reading the book “Sex and the Liberated Man” by psychologist Albert Ellis, which he says helped him understand the historical context of sexuality.

“There’s so much hate in the world and a little bit of love won’t hurt anybody, he says. “I believe in total freedom and having a good time. My campaign’s all about that: There’s been so much stress and violence in this country, people are killing their neighbors kids are killing kids. Maybe they need a little marijuana cigarette, maybe that would help settle things down. And if you want to grow a garden full of it, be my guest.”

Bleming recognizes marriage is largely a state issue, but says he would forcefully push for marijuana legalization in the Senate.

If he does win, his new colleagues may not appreciate his candor.

“All of them should be jailed for treason for one thing or another,” he says. “They don’t live up to the Constitution. They took an oath but that oath seldom means anything. Hell, they’re corrupt.”

He clarifies that he doesn’t believe all members of Congress are guilty of outright treason.

“I say that facetiously, there’s different levels,” he says.

Enzi’s chance of re-election to a fourth term is generally thought of as good, even more so after primary challenger Liz Cheney dropped out of the race in January.

The primary election is set for Aug. 19. Bleming hopes to debate Enzi before then and hopes for strong support from young people and former Cheney backers. He also hopes Democrats and independents will chose to register as Republicans to vote for him.