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A self-described “sovereign” citizen who sexually assaulted a woman at knife point has been sentenced to seven years in prison and will be monitored as a long-term offender once he gets out.

Carlo Fredrick Berg, 30, was convicted of sexual assault with a weapon in the fall of 2017 following a trial. It was Berg’s third sexual offence.

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According to a sentencing decision from Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Douglas Mah, Berg approached a woman late one night in November 2015 and offered her a smoke. The woman had been foraging for cigarette butts outside a northeast Edmonton strip mall.

Suddenly, Berg pulled the woman into an alcove, produced a knife and demanded oral sex. The woman complied, fearing for her life.

Police arrested Berg the following January.

Berg represented himself in court, admitting into evidence numerous strange, sovereign-citizen style tracts.

Among other things, Berg cited “pseudo-legal” theories popular with anti-government groups, alleging that he is beyond the jurisdiction of the court.