Tax evaders Ed and Elaine Brown arrested after standoff

October 5, 2007

New Hampshire - Ed and Elaine Brown, were arrested Thursday after a five-month-long standoff with federal agents in New Hampshire over tax evasion charges.

Ed and Elaine Brown, were arrested Thursday after a five-month-long standoff with federal agents in New Hampshire over tax evasion charges.

Ed and Elaine Brown, who had refused to surrender to authorities to serve their prison sentences, were taken into custody by U.S. Marshals at about 8:00 p.m. The Browns had been holed up in their concrete-reinforced home in Plainfield, N.H.

They were convicted of evading $1.9 million in taxes -- a crime punishable by up to five years in prison. The Browns were sentenced in absentia on April 24, 2007.

Throughout the ordeal, the Browns insisted there was no valid law that requires them to pay income taxes.