Melissa Gregory | The Town Talk

Angela Gosnell/News Sentinel

A Ball woman on Monday denied that she was a sovereign citizen, even though she tried filing trillions in fake liens against dozens of Rapides Parish law enforcement officers and public officials.

"I did, but it's not real," said Maria Yvette Canada, 53, when asked by a prosecutor if she claimed to be among those who don't recognize the authority of federal, state or local governments.

Courtesy/Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office

"It's convenient to say that today as she stands here in an orange jumpsuit," Rapides Parish Assistant District Attorney Christopher Bowman said later in the hearing.

Still, Canada was granted a reduction of her $57,500 bond by 9th Judicial District Court Judge Greg Beard. She was released from the Rapides Parish Detention Center Monday afternoon.

The Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office arrested her on May 22 on 23 felony counts of filing false liens against a police officer or state employee.

Her husband, 39-year-old Terrance Deon Anderson, faces the same charges. Both were arrested before that by the Alexandria Police Department, and charges are pending in that case, which is the incident that started it all.

Speeding in a school zone

It began with a traffic stop around 3:14 p.m. on April 29. Canada passed an officer in the J.B. Nachman Elementary School 15-mph zone, allegedly driving twice that speed.

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The officer turned around, flipped on his lights and tried to stop her. He noticed that her 2015 Chevrolet Equinox had an odd license plate, MNK-65792.

Thinking Canada was unaware she was being stopped, the officer hit his siren. Canada stopped in traffic near the Heyman Lane and Coliseum Boulevard intersection and got out.

When the officer told her to pull her car out of traffic, she repeatedly told him that he should have run her license plate so he'd know who she was.

"She also stated numerous times that I was not allowed to make a traffic stop on her," reads one incident report from the stop.

Canada then drove away, but pulled over just down the road in a credit union parking lot. The officer pulled his weapon when he saw her reaching into the center console, reads the report.

But she walked to the officer with her hands up. After being handcuffed, she told him her name was Maria D'Miyah Bey and she didn't have to obey any laws of the United States or Louisiana, that she was a free citizen.

Maria Canada, she said, was her slave name. She was a Moorish citizen, according to a second incident report.

Her car had no inspection sticker. The metal license plate on her car read "Moorish Temple of New Kemit." Canada carried a plastic card identifying her as a Moorish citizen with a right to travel.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Moorish sovereign citizens believe African Americans have special rights and privileges beyond governmental authority. It's a mesh of the sovereign citizen and Moorish Science Temple movements that began in the mid-1990s, according to an expert quoted on their website.

Canada was arrested, booked on charges of stopping, parking or standing on a highway shoulder, improper display of license plate, no inspection sticker, speeding, resisting an officer and felony flight from an officer.

Less than two weeks later, on May 10, "multiple packages" with documents purporting to be from the Moorish National Republic Federal Government arrived at department headquarters, according to the second report.

$10 trillion liens

Canada, identifying herself as Bey, filed $10 trillion liens against nine specific people, including Alexandria Mayor Jeffrey Hall, Chief Jerrod King and more. She also included "all other employees" and repeatedly listed them as debtors.

In claiming city properties for the Moors, she also demanded "all property, keys and codes to all of the buildings," according to the second report.

It stated that the "debtors (listed city employees and APD) have caused injury to the estate of the 'Secured First Party Creditor' on the land that the creditor (Marie Canada) say belongs to them and the republic," it reads.

"The document then goes on to claim Canada is now the heir to the Alexandria Police Department and all of its holdings due to this action (law enforcement duties)."

Another packet with similar documents was received from "Terrance Deon Bey," identified by the department as Anderson. Those documents made the same demands.

The department traced the couple's address to McCray Drive in Ball and identified them as husband and wife through a 2016 report on file. The Town Talk couldn't locate a marriage license for the couple in online Rapides Parish records.

Seeking help from sheriff's office

Canada asked the Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office for help with the ticket from Alexandria, according to testimony Monday from Rapides Detective Michael Gill.

When that help didn't materialize, she unleashed more paper terrorism — a term used to describe the practice of filing false liens.

Gill said she mailed documents to the sheriff's office that claimed her sovereignty and stated that she doesn't recognize the laws of the United States.

Canada then tried to file $10 trillion in liens against officials with the sheriff's office — from Sheriff William Earl Hilton on down. She also targeted at least three of the candidates running for sheriff, but charges in those cases weren't brought because the men already had left the department.

Bowman asked Gill if he would describe Canada as a sovereign citizen, and he said yes.

When Bowman asked Canada if she claimed to be a sovereign citizen, defense attorney James Word II objected. But Bowman said it was relevant because they were discussing a bond reduction, meaning she could be released from jail, and because she had claimed to not recognize federal or state laws.

That's when Canada said she did claim that, but "it's not real."

Her great-uncle also testified and said the family only could afford a $15,000 bond. When asked, he said he did recognize state and federal authority.

Beard said he didn't believe Canada posed a physical threat to anyone. He reset bond on one of the felony charges to $15,000, while allowing Canada to be released on her own recognizance on the 22 remaining charges.

He warned her about the consequences of violating her bond, telling her she'd face the original bonds if she got into trouble again.

Louisiana law on false liens

The state has had several versions of a law forbidding the filing of false liens since 2012. According to the law, it is a crime to file, try to file or conspire to file false liens against law enforcement, court or state officers and state employees.

According to the Alexandria Police Department's interpretation of the statute, Hall isn't covered under the law in his capacity as mayor.

Anyone convicted under the statute can face a prison sentence of not more than two years, either with or without hard labor, a fine of not less than $500 "nor more than the amount of the value of the false lien or encumbrance."

In other words, those who file false liens for exorbitant amounts can themselves be fined the same amount.