DnA 9-18: The Audit of Sal D'Onofrio
by Scott Dunn
On July 13th, two US Marshals agents came to his house. They did not knock or announce themselves. They forced open the back door and stormed in. They grabbed Sal, wrestled him to the floor, tied him up and took him away. All in front of an 11 year old child, and Sal's brother, Nick. No warrant, no badge, and no warning. They did not show him a signed warrant until after he was in jail. When they brought him before a judge, he asked the judge if signing a bond would grant the court jurisdiction: affirmative. Sal would not sign a bond. As a result, he spent six days in solitary confinement, no books, not much food and no clothes save his underwear. They would not let him call an attorney for days.
I had learned about this through a phone call from a mutual friend, and I was requested to be at a hearing the next day. There I was at the U.S. District courthouse in Santa Ana. When I saw Sal, he was shackled at his feet, and his hands to his waist. What a dangerous criminal! Sal told the judge that the order was void on it's face, and that it was physically impossible to comply. Sal was "ordered" to appear before auditors on a Saturday. In order to be released, Sal signed a bond under duress, etc. Previous to this incident, they had sent him what appeared to be a "proposed order" to produce books and records. Sal rejected this and sent it back telling the prosecutor to "show cause". Turns out that a line above the phrase "proposed order" on the cover page was meant to strike out that phrase.
This lead Sal to think that the order was proposed and not a command. Sal was found in contempt of court and was brought to court as described above. This is their latest trick: sloppiness. You are forewarned. He came by to pick me up at work around 2:15 on the 20th and from there we proceeded to their office. Upon approach to the building in Laguna Hills, we could see a rather intimidating Federal Building. It was built in the shape of a green pyramid and seemed to be the only prominent feature in the nearly barren hills of Laguna. Almost as if to remind the folks in Laguna Hills to pay their taxes. Once inside the IRS office Sal used the house phone to make a phone call letting them know that he was ready for the interview.
We waited a few minutes for the agents to come out. While we waited, Sal went over his notes to prepare himself. After a short while, the agents came out to greet us. They showed us the way to their "interview rooms", which reminded me of a car dealership, you know, with all those small little cubicles in a row. I took note that the room we were in had a window (in an interior wall?) so that the agents could see through to the waiting room behind us.
I suppose that they wanted everyone in the waiting room to see what an audit looks like. The agents set up their tape recorder and began to assemble their questions. There I was, all set to re cord the proceedings when I discovered that the batteries were dead. That was embarrassing. They weren't willing to wait for me to get some new batteries, so we went with what we had. The interviewing agent, we'll call him Bob, asked many question s about Sal's "income", but Sal responded by saying that he had no income. With each question, Bob became more and more impatient. He spent more and more time looking at the page he was reading from and not looking at Sal too often. My eyes were nearly transfixed upon Bob. I was wondering when the agent would crack.
The agents were asked if this were a criminal or civil proceeding, they responded with "civil". I guess it's only civil if you might go to jail. The agents were asked i f this information would be used against him in a criminal proceeding, and they replied "yes". In response to many of the questions, Sal cited Hale v. Henkel as protection against government intrusion. According to this case, man has a right to his private business, and it is not subject to government intrusion unless a criminal complaint has been filed. On other questions, he invoked the 5th amendment upon them prohibiting them from compelling Sal to be a witness against himself. They responded by saying that the prosecuting attorney did not think that Sal had this right. Something to consider: if the IRS may not be prohibited by the 5th Amendment in such proceedings, that must mean they are not a government agency and that there must be some sort of contract with consideration between Sal and the IRS, right? After many questions about income, one of the agents asked Sal what his definition of income is. Sal responded with "I have looked through the code and have found definitions for 'gross income' and 'net income, but not 'income', what definition are you using?" "That is irrelevant here, the definition of income is as I give it to you", said Bob. That stunned me. With hindsight, I began to wonder where he got the authority to say that. Did he get it from the Secretary? They asked Sal if he received any checks, cash, or trades for his services, to which Sal responded, no. "If you don't receive any cash, or checks, then how do you buy food?" "God provides", said Sal.
So, we took a small break. When we got back from the break, Bob asked Sal for his books and records. Sal produced a manila folder and placed it on the table. "I have produced my books and records and if you examine them it will be over my objections". Bob couldn't wait to look inside. You could tell by the way he tore open the envelope. What he found were these documents: a note that says "After a diligent search I could not find any record of income for the years in question"; a revocation of power of attorney; oath of allegiance; declaration of citizenship; and one other item I could not identify. Needless to say, they were disappointed.
Towards the end of the interview, Bob asked, "did you get these forms from t he Pilot Connection Society?" This surprised Sal. Sal believes that the IRS singled him out for having contact with the PCS. "No, I researched them all myself." "Oh, we get tax protester material from them a lot." "Are you calling me a 'tax protester?" He backed away in his seat and said, "Oh, no, no."
The supervisor told Sal that he had not complied with the order. Sal asked how he had "not complied".
"You didn't answer the questions right" "Which questions?" "We don't want to go through the list again."
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Editor's Note:
This will be a continuing story.
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