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'Redemption' comes with cost: 3 years Klamath Falls men sentenced for check-writing scheme By DANI DODGE Two men who created $850,000 worth of phony checks that drew on the federal treasury will be spending the next three years in prison. Donald Harley Carter, 36, and Floyd Bradley Howe, 61, both of Klamath Falls, tried to buy luxuries like a lakeside cabin and Cadillacs with checks they learned how to make at a "Redemption" seminar. They were convicted in March and were sentenced on Friday. Neither man tried to influence Judge Michael Hogan about the sentence during Friday's court hearing, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Bob Thomson. One was in custody on another charge at the time, and the other was taken into custody after the sentence was pronounced. "It was pretty cut and dried," said Thomson. "They didn't say a word." The two had represented themselves in trial, but put up no recognizable legal defense to the charges they faced. They simply asked three questions of each of the 20-some government witnesses: their name, if the witness had a claim against them or if the witness knew anyone with a claim against them. They thought if they could prove that none of the witnesses had a claim against them, the charges should be dropped. The jury thought otherwise and found Carter and Howe guilty of 11 counts of conspiracy and bank fraud. The jury concluded that Carter and Howe had tried to defraud the government by printing and issuing bogus check-like securities, called sight drafts, supposedly backed by the U.S. Treasury. They had learned the check-writing scam at a Redemption seminar in Spokane. The Redemption scheme spread quickly in the spring of 1999. The check-writing is based on the participants' understanding of international business codes and the belief that the United States went bankrupt in 1929, converting the physical bodies of its citizenry into assets, against which it could sell bonds. As a result, the theory holds, knowledgeable people can "redeem" themselves as assets. Outside of court during the trial, Howe and Carter insisted the only thing they did wrong was draw the money on the U.S. Treasury. They still felt they should be able to print up sight drafts redeeming themselves and buy whatever they wanted with them. They also said they would not be taken into custody, because the jury had found "straw men" guilty, not Howe and Carter in the flesh and blood. But apparently, they were wrong on that prediction. "Maybe it's their straw men in prison right now," Thomson said. "I don't know they'll be saying that about this time." Reach reporter Dani Dodge at 776-4471, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.