Militias and sovereign citizens in South Carolina courts

South Carolina's public record on this movement is mostly sovereign citizen cases: federal fraud prosecutions from 2015 to 2019, a 2020 SLED sham-legal-process case, and traffic-stop arrests and lawsuits from 2023 to 2026. The militia record is thin: a 2021 Columbia police personnel action over a Three Percenters sticker. The Bootleg Militia appears in a 2012 sheriff's briefing only as an outlaw motorcycle group. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]

Key South Carolina cases

Federal fraud cases: Jeffrey Scott Green and Lisa Flaugher-Green of Easley received 30 and 27 months on 2015-10-21 for an EFT debt-elimination conspiracy. On 2016-03-31 Jefford Henry, Jeffrey Henry, Linda Marie Henry, Makeshia Glover and Bobby McGuire received 46 to 121 months for a scheme that took about $2 million from the IRS. Ronald Allen Wright of Columbia was sentenced on 2019-05-16 to 10 years for tax fraud and wire-fraud conspiracy after attempting to discharge nearly $15 million of consumer debt through birth-certificate claims. Mount Pleasant dentist Judy Villanyi was sentenced on 2018-02-28 to five months for obstructing tax administration after mailing the IRS sovereign citizen materials. [1][2][3][9]

Paper filings against officials: on 2020-10-23 SLED agents charged Nyah El Dey, 71, and Brenda Harley Rivers, 68, of Walterboro with conspiracy, and Rivers with two counts under Section 16-17-735(D), in an effort to intimidate a judge through documents sent to Dorchester County court. These are charges; no disposition was located. [4][10]

Traffic-stop encounters: Thomas Edward Humphrey, charged with traffic offenses after a 2023-06-24 Myrtle Beach stop, filed a 239-page Horry County suit on 2026-06-26 seeking $132,257,933. Circuit Judge Alex Hyman dismissed it after the filing fee went unpaid by 2026-07-15, and Humphrey filed an appeal notice on 2026-08-07. On 2025-04-26 a U-Haul fleeing North Charleston police crashed on Meeting Street in Charleston, killing a motorcyclist. Driver Margie Kathy Brown, 54, was charged with reckless homicide and other offenses, and Live 5 reported that she and a male passenger claimed to be sovereign citizens. In Richland County, deputies charged Devonte Arthur, 33, with operating a vehicle with a counterfeit plate (reported 2025-05-23). [6][11][12][5]

On 2003-12-08 Steven Bixby and his father Arthur Bixby engaged in a 12-hour gun battle with law enforcement in Abbeville that killed Deputy Danny Wilson and Constable Donnie Ouzts, amid a dispute over a highway easement. Steven Bixby was sentenced to death in February 2007; Arthur and Rita Bixby received life sentences. [13][6]

Inside SCDC

Steven Bixby is a South Carolina death row inmate. His attorneys argued in 2025 that he was incompetent to be executed, partly because of his belief that he is a sovereign citizen. Competency hearings ended in Greenville on 2025-08-22; SCPR reported he is a self-described sovereign citizen, and the prosecutor called his views marginal beliefs, not delusions. No public source located describes sovereign citizen or militia organizing, filings or STG designation inside SCDC facilities; the Bixby competency litigation is the only SCDC-related public record found. [14][13]

Where it stands

S.C. Code Section 16-17-735, enacted by 1998 Act No. 385, makes it a felony punishable by one to three years to falsely assert authority of law by sham legal process to intimidate or hinder an official. The section defines sham legal process to include a lien that is not lawfully issued. H.4742, a 2014 bill to add Section 29-1-60 making a false lien against a public officer or employee a felony, was introduced in the House on 2014-02-20 and in the Senate on 2014-05-01, where it remained in the Banking and Insurance Committee. [10][15]

DOJ releases on South Carolina residents charged over January 6, 2021, including George Amos Tenney III of Anderson (indicted 2021-10-25) and Derek Cooper Gunby of Anderson (convicted 2023-11-13), name no Oath Keepers, Three Percenter or other militia affiliation. [16][17]

The full profile, with every source, the county records and a dated timeline, is on the group page.