Mauricio Antonio Patino Mancia is an immigration detainee currently in the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility awaiting removal after being convicted of unlawful re-entry in June 2015. He recently filed a lien/attempt to collect a debt against various government officials including the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Corrections and community supervision Anthony Annucci as well as state and federal judges involved in his case. His complaint was largely incomprehensible with documents named: “PETITION OF ACCEPTANCE” “CORAM VOBIS BILL OF COLLECTION OR LAWSUIT[,]” “BILL OF COLLECTION[,]” “CORAM VOBIS AFFIDAVIT OF TRUTH[,]” “MOTION OF LAWSUIT AMENDED[,]” and “KNOWLEDGEMENT [sic] OF THE LAWSUIT BY THE JUDGE MCLOUGHLIN.”
The court believed that his complaint reflected beliefs consistent with the sovereign citizen movement and appears to be an attempt at harassing officials involved in his case. They believed he was seeking to impose meritless liens on officials under the Uniform Commercial Code, an abusive practice utilized by prisoners across the country.
Thankfully, the court recognized this as being “wholly frivolous” and dismissed it. The court noted that “the ‘sovereign citizen’ belief system has been described by other courts as ‘completely without merit,’ ‘patently frivolous,’ and having ‘no conceivable validity in American law.”
Citation: Mancia v. Annucci, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 87891