Towns, Judges Say They’re Being Extorted

ALBANY, N.Y. (CN) - Ulster County and three towns in New York say they're the targets of a multibillion-dollar revenge and extortion plot aimed at "disrupting the administration of local government," because a town issued two traffic tickets to the plot's alleged ringleader.

The federal RICO complaint accuses seven people of "harassing, defrauding and attempting to extort employees and elected officials of local governments into allowing defendants to run afoul or otherwise ignore both federal and state law."

Plaintiffs include Ulster County, the Towns of Lloyd, Rosendale and Ulster, and 15 people, including judges, municipal attorneys, and a chief of police.

"This is a civil action seeking damages arising out of defendants' repeated and persistent fraudulent and illegal activity by falsely representing that defendants are the holders of valid Maritime and/or UCC liens against plaintiffs. These purported liens have been filed in various local and state offices to harass and extort plaintiffs," according to the 35-page complaint.

UCC financial statements are customarily filed with a county or secretary of state, detailing personal property taken as collateral from a borrower.

The towns say the plot is revenge for two tickets that lead defendant Richard Enrique Ulloa received at a traffic stop in Rosendale, a rural town in Ulster County, in the Hudson Valley.

Ulloa was sent to Ulster County Jail after failing to provide identification to Rosendale Town Justice Robert Vosper, a plaintiff in the case.

"Shortly thereafter, defendant Richard Ulloa began a pattern of harassment and attempted extortion towards plaintiffs, including, but not limited to, filing purported maritime liens and UCC statements containing fraudulent statements asserting that plaintiffs owed defendants amounts totaling several billion dollars," the complaint states. "The liens and UCC statements were not only fraud, but part of a course of intimidation by defendant Richard Ulloa" and others.

Sara Ulloa, Jeffrey-Charles Burfeindt, Ed-Charles Parenteau, Raymond Tompkins, Katherine A. Cairo Davis and Kathy Steinhilber are the other defendants.

They demanded more than $2.8 billion from the plaintiffs through a myriad of phony criminal complaints and invoices, according to the complaint.

Adding to Richard Ulloa's fury was the fact that "property owned by defendant Richard was the subject of a foreclosure proceeding venued in Ulster County," according to the complaint. "Ulloa attempted to file a purported 'deed' removing the foreclosing party's interest in his property. The Ulster County Clerk rejected the 'deed' offering."

Ulloa and his alleged cohorts are accused of filing the fraudulent liens and UCC statements with the New York State Department of State, the Washington State Department of Licensing and in the Lamar County, Ga., Superior Court Clerk's Office.

"Defendants' racketeering activities have caused damage to plaintiffs' business and/or property interests, including but not limited to injury to the plaintiffs' credit histories and ability to obtain loans, the loss of employee productivity, including productivity related to review of documents filed by defendants, meetings related to the documents by the municipal subdivision plaintiffs, and incurring costs and fees related to the instant suit," the complaint states.

The plaintiffs seek an order declaring all liens filed by the defendants null and void and removed from the public record.

They are represented by John W. Bailey with Bailey, Kelleher & Johnson.

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