ALBANY, N.Y. -- An anti-government radical was sentenced yesterday to five years in federal prison for attacking top executives of Mid-Hudson Valley FCU with a barrage of fake bills, phony property liens and bizarre court papers after the credit union foreclosed on his home.
Richard Ulloa, 52, and two friends were members of an anti-government militia called Restore America Plan which purports to not believe in drivers' licenses, banks or birth certificates. The men were charged with mail fraud after they plotted to clog up the credit union’s and the local government using a tactic that's often referred to as "paper terrorism."
After Mid-Hudson Valley FCU began foreclosure on his home Ulloa countered by sending a "criminal complaint" to the credit union, and demanding credit union executives pay him $46 million. He followed up by filing a $2.8 billion lien against Mid-Hudson Valley CEO Bill Spearman and other credit union executives.
"Somewhere along the way, you decided to follow the voice of the sovereign citizens," federal Judge Thomas McAvoy told Ulloa at yesterday’s sentencing. "You did that with reckless disregard and evil intention."
Ulloa used the same harassment tactics when police gave him traffic tickets in Rosendale and the Town of Ulster. In those cases, Ulloa filed bogus bills and liens against cops, judges, and later against county government officials.
He was ordered to pay restitution to Ulster County and the credit union in the amount of $63,401.
Two other members of the local militia were sentenced to prison earlier.
