Glenn sentenced to time served in fraud case

A Cape Girardeau physician has a reason to be thankful today after a federal judge accepted a plea agreement Wednesday that ensures he will be free to spend the holidays with his family.

Byron Glenn pleaded guilty Aug. 13 to a federal misdemeanor charge of passing a fictitious instrument with intent to defraud.

In exchange for the guilty plea, then-prosecutor Morley Swingle agreed to drop five felony charges of fraud and passing more than $950,000 in bogus money orders and checks -- none of which was honored -- and recommend Glenn be sentenced to time served since his arrest in February.

At the time, U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh told Glenn he would order a presentence investigation before deciding whether to accept the binding plea agreement.

Sentencing had been set for last week, but Limbaugh postponed it after a conference with attorneys for both Glenn and the government in which he explained he was going to reject the agreement.

"What I relayed to the lawyers for both sides in the case was the reason I was going to reject the plea agreement was because in my opinion, a period of supervised release was needed in this case," Limbaugh said in court Wednesday.

Because the original plea agreement did not include supervised release or any special conditions, Limbaugh offered Glenn the option of withdrawing his guilty plea and starting over.

"I'm going to go ahead with the plea," Glenn said Wednesday.

Limbaugh told Glenn he still will receive credit for time served and will not have to spend any additional time in prison if he abides by the conditions of his probation for the next year.

Among the conditions: Glenn may not possess a firearm, he has to report to his probation officer, and he is to have no contact with First State Community Bank, Bank of America or any of either bank's employees except to correspond with one specific Bank of America branch concerning ongoing litigation between them.

In court in August, Swingle said Glenn used his computer and a U.S. Treasury routing number he pulled from a federal tax return to create a fake money order for more than $149,000, which he attempted to use to pay off a mortgage at First State Community Bank.

Swingle said Glenn had been told the U.S. Treasury establishes an account for each citizen at birth, with the value of that account rising to about $600 million by the time the individual reaches middle age, and by renouncing his citizenship and becoming a "freeholder," he would be entitled to access the money in the account.

Court documents, including an affidavit filed by a federal agent and a transcript of Glenn's initial appearance in federal court, suggested the doctor may have been involved in the anti-government "sovereign citizen" movement.

Capt. Dave Hall of the Missouri State Highway Patrol has said proponents of the movement sometimes prey on people facing financial difficulties by luring them into illegal debt-reduction schemes or selling fake credentials purported to grant them "diplomatic immunity" from paying taxes or being arrested.

The movement's ideas are based on a flawed understanding of the U.S. Constitution, Hall said in August.

epriddy@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

Cape Girardeau, MO