

Ismael Roman Mota

Court records show Ismael Roman Mota’s antigovernment “sovereign citizen" views likely go back to 2007, when he was arrested in Maricopa County on a charge of failure to register as a sex offender. Mota was arrested again on Saturday when his young niece called to report that her uncle was trying to start a fire to burn down the residence.

When police and fire crews arrived, one side of the house was “engulfed in flames and several people were attempting to put out the fire with garden hoses,” KPHO-TV in Phoenix reported. No one was injured in the fire.

Police have said neighbors saw Mota start the fire and yelled at him to put it out. Mota responded that he didn't care because the house belonged to him before fleeing the scene. He was arrested when he returned several hours later.

Firefighters determined the fire was started in a large bucket containing charcoal and gasoline, ignited about a foot from the house before spreading to the exterior wall of the residence.

Mota, who self-identified as a sovereign citizen, refused to acknowledge that officers had read him his Miranda rights, and he refused to cooperate with routine fingerprint and mug shot processes during the jail booking, police said.

Court records show Mota, who was arrested in 2000 on a felony charge of sexual (contact) with a minor, has used various combinations of his first, middle and last names, sometimes spelling his middle name as Ramon – all of which are common practices for sovereign citizens, who believe they are the sole arbiters of the law.

In 2007, when he was arrested in Maricopa County for failing to register as a sex offender, Mota submitted an affidavit to the court that resembles sometimes nonsensical, paper terrorism submitted to the judicial system by sovereign citizens. He said he was filing the paperwork as a “full recanting of any and all statements and pleas made by ‘Ismail Roman Mota.’”

That name, he contended, “is a fictitious entity and my real name is Ismael Mota Roman. Both names are prohibited for use in any type of communication whatsoever,” he told the court.

Mota also has displayed sovereign citizen views by refusing to comply with motor vehicle and driver’s licensing laws, court records show. He has been involved in 31 traffic court cases since 1999.