Left: FBI agents out of Columbia work Thursday for nearly seven hours around the front driveway of the home at 515 Concord Ave. in Anderson. By Heidi Cenac
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Left: FBI agents out of Columbia work Thursday for nearly seven hours around the front driveway of the home at 515 Concord Ave. in Anderson.
Lorean Fendley, 83, left her home this morning to find FBI agents hauling boxes out of her neighbor's house at 515 Concord Ave.
“I was afraid something terrible had happened,” Ms. Fendley said. “I just couldn't imagine what was going on.”
Her fears were relieved when another neighbor said the officers were from the FBI. FBI spokesman Tom O'Neill has declined to comment on the investigation, but neighbors suspect the seven-hour search was related to income tax evasion.
The homeowner, Robert Clarkson , is a Vietnam veteran who reportedly suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. Neighbors say he is well known for his anti-government stances and often holds rallies at his home.
Mr. Clarkson, a former attorney, has been convicted of federal tax-related crimes twice. Federal prosecutors filed suit against Mr. Clarkson again in 2005 seeking injunctive relief from his “continuing conduct as a promoter of a fraudulent tax plan or arrangement.”
Mr. Clarkson, who was in Columbia on Thursday, said he wasn't sure what the FBI would want from his house because he posts everything on his Web site .
“There's nothing I do that has had anything to do with the FBI. Now, the IRS I don't like,” Mr. Clarkson said.
He said his only previous contact with the FBI was for making threats against the Internal Revenue Service and selling freedom bonds, which the buyer can redeem “when the Constitutional government is restored” for the bond's amount plus interest.
“If they want to arrest someone they picked the wrong person,” Mr. Clarkson said. “I'll sue them.”
Motorists rubber-necked as they passed his house and drivers gawked at the two white Ford F-450 covered trucks in Mr. Clarkson's driveway. Nearly every car stopped to ask reporters and neighbors what was going on.
Susan Aakhus, who lives across the street from Mr. Clarkson, said agents arrived before 10 a.m. Thursday morning. Before they left around 4:30 p.m., Mrs. Aakhus persuaded the agents to let her take in Mr. Clarkson's black-and-white terrier.
“I'm not going to leave him there to starve,” she said, holding the dog in her arms.
The agents left a cat inside the house with enough food and water for several days. Mrs. Aakhus was told to call them if no one comes home so the cat can be taken care of. Mr. Clarkson said he would be home Friday.
Mr. O'Neill said the FBI would release information about the search once an arrest had been made, but he was not expecting that to happen Thursday.