JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A federal grand jury has indicted Justin Sorci of Jacksonville Beach for committing arson on federal property after he set a fire in the Osceola National Forest.
According to a federal complaint, on Jan. 30, Sorci was seen conducting his own campfire in the forest, but wasn’t near a campsite.
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When a US Forest Service officer told him he wasn’t authorized to conduct a controlled burn, Sorci said that because he was a “sovereign citizen” he was allowed to move forward with the burn.
According to the FBI, “sovereign citizens” are “anti-government extremists who believe that even though they physically reside in this country, they are separate or ‘sovereign’ from the United States. As a result, they believe they don’t have to answer to any government authority, including courts, taxing entities, motor vehicle departments, or law enforcement.”
Two days later, Sorci was conducting a burn at the same location when a USFS officer observed smoke and a “slow simmering fire in grasses, brush, and trees.”
There were no active-controlled burns in the area at the time.
Once officers found Sorci and attempted to read his Miranda rights, he began walking in another direction and then ran off. Officers managed to catch him and place him in handcuffs as he resisted arrest.
As he was interviewed, Sorci said he was “trying to do the Forest Service a favor” by conducting a controlled burn, once again citing that he was a sovereign citizen and that “he had the authority to do what he wanted.”
A court date for Sorci has not yet been announced.
