Updated: New Jersey Police Arrest Sovereign Citizen Activist

UPDATE: 

Michael Salvi, a friend of the accused, has confirmed that Camden Police found pepper spray – an amount over the legal limit according to New Jersey law – as well as an unspecified amount of signal flares in Fernando Salguero’s vehicle.

Selguero is a firefighter and resident of Bridgeport, PA.

According to a local CBS affiliate, Salguero is facing charges stemming from “weapons possession and possession of destructive devices,” although no guns or explosive devices were found in his car.

Salguero, according to our source, was detained but not officially taken into custody until sometime after 4 a.m. Wednesday.

He is being charged with three counts of possession of destructive devices, possession of a weapon, and transportation of weapons as well as one count of possession of certain weapons.

***

Although police are not releasing the name of the man arrested, and in fact won’t confirm that anyone is in custody, The Declaration has learned that an incident with an illegally parked ‘suspicious’ vehicle behind the municipal building in Somerdale, NJ, which prompted investigation by the bomb-squad, led to the arrest of Fernando Salguero. Fernando is a civil liberties and gun-rights activist in Philadelphia (who was harassed by National Park Police during his attendance at the Occupy National Gathering with his piece).

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ABC 6 reports that just after 7:00 p.m. yesterday on the 100 block of Kennedy Boulevard in Somerdale, police requested a K-9 unit to investigate a suspicious white Ford Crown Victoria parked illegally in the rear of the municipal building.

According to ABC, the mayor addressed the incident, saying, “Obviously in today’s environment, we have to be extra careful with everything. It happens in town, and everywhere. And the police department was on it right away with the illegal parked vehicle and once they knew there was more to look into they called in the proper agencies to take action.”

According to our sources, Salguero is in Somerdale awaiting arraignment and transfer to Camden County Jail. A friend reports that his bond is to be set at $32,800.

According to the same friend, Salguero “refused to consent to a search, which is of course a Constitutional right.” This refusal triggered “a National Security emergency,” he added wryly.

Although this has not been confirmed by police, the friend said the vehicle contained “nothing more” than signal flares and pepper-spray.

About Kenneth Lipp

Kenneth is a writer and researcher. He’s from Alabama, and will not apologize for it. He moved to Pennsylvania in 2012, but has been in love with Philadelphia since a late-night stroll down Ben Franklin Parkway to the Art Museum in July of 2011 with the love of his life. He is interested in telling Philadelphia’s dynamic and absolutely unique stories with the zeal of a constantly enamored newcomer. Kenneth is also passionate about government transparency and protection of whistleblowers, most notably PFC Chelsea Manning. His research and reporting on law enforcement and surveillance have been featured in various publications, including Rolling Stone (Meet the Private Companies Helping Cops Spy on Protesters) and Popular Science (Boston Tested Crowd-Watching Software That Catalogues People's Skin Color). His training is in both genetics and history and he likes the joke about being a helicase and unzipping your “genes.” He’s driven to know, and thinks you can handle, the truth. Follow him on Twitter @kennethlipp.

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