Thursday, April 11, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
Leonard Saye of Las Vegas agreed today to be transported to Texas to face charges of writing a bogus check signed by anti-government Freemen leaders.
Saye, 70, told Justice of the Peace Debbie Lippis that he would not fight extradition on the Texas theft charge over a bogus U.S. Treasury draft for $14,600 that was used to pay for his mother's funeral.
Saye had talked with his attorney, David Goldwater, about fighting attempts by Texas authorities to send him there but decided the lengthy battle would be fruitless.
Texas lawmen have 90 days under the law to pick him up but Lippis ordered the case back into her courtroom in a week for a status check, indicating that if the elderly man is not transported quickly, she would consider setting bail.
Until then, he will remain in the Clark County Detention Center.
Another attorney, Frank Cremen, has said Saye may be a victim in the case. He said he believes Saye was "a little gullible" when he purchased the check that he sent to the Lamb Funeral Home in McLean, Texas, where Saye's mother lived.
The check was signed by two Freemen leaders -- LeRoy Schweitzer and Daniel Peterson -- arrested last month on similar charges.
Those arrests sparked a standoff between federal agents and the Freemen at the group's Montana compound that continued today.
The Freemen are an anti-government group that has rejected the U.S. monetary system. Freemen have held seminars across the country and attendees can buy the bogus U.S. Treasury drafts.
archive
