Earlier this year, a self-professed member of a nationwide extremist movement was charged with threatening and harassing a judge and 27 local officials in three South Jersey counties — and he's far from alone.

In their April report, Voorhees police stated Michael Rinderle, a 29-year-old from Waukesha, Wisconsin, identified himself as a "sovereign citizen," part of a group of people who don't recognize most federal criminal law, taxes or credit card debt.

According to New Jersey Judiciary spokeswoman Tamara Kendig, approximately 1,200 cases involving sovereign citizens have been filed in Superior Court — and some local municipal courts — across the state in the past year.

Mark Potok, a senior fellow from the Southern Poverty Law Center, said judges and other authority figures make natural targets for sovereign citizens conducting what he called "paper terrorism."

"They believe these judges have no jurisdiction, or believe they are purposely subverting it," said Potok. "So they go after judges, court clerks and the like."

One of the means of harassment commonly used against judges and other court officials is the commercial lien, also known as a "mechanic's lien," which is intended to allow laborers to seek compensation from those who haven't paid them for their services.

According to Potok, sovereign citizens seeking retribution from court officials will often file such a lien on a judge's home, forcing them to potentially spend thousands of dollars to clear their title.

"The court clerk could receive it and file it without giving it another thought, and then it wouldn't come up again until the judge tries to sell his or her home," he said. "Since this started happening, about 20 states have passed new laws, or strengthened existing ones, in an effort to curb false liens."

In the case of Rinderle, the Wisconsin man filed fraudulent commercial liens against the Voorhees municipal court judge and other officials spanning Bergen, Camden and Gloucester counties.

According to police, the alleged action was in retaliation over traffic tickets received by his common law wife in 2013.

Members also convene "common law indictments," in which they "indict" officials they believe have committed crimes, often in absentia.

"The sovereign citizens are a very large movement and their numbers are increasing, with about 300,000 members in the United States," said Potok. "There have been sovereign citizen activities in nearly every state.

The FBI currently lists the group as an extremist domestic terrorism threat. According to Potok, sovereign citizens have killed seven police officers in the past 12 years.

"There was a similar wave with what was called the Montana Freemen in the 1990s," he added. "The popular term now is sovereign citizen, but this happened before during the Clinton administration as well."

An official with the New Jersey Attorney General's Office last week acknowledged there have been some "discussions" and "heads up" memos regarding the group and its members' activities. However, he could not provide any detailed information as of press time.

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Jason Laday may be reached at jladay@southjerseymedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JasonLaday. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.