It turns out there isn’t a huge market for a $250,000-plus, 100-acre property that may be booby-trapped.
The sale of the compound owned by a now-jailed pair of tax evaders who held off police during a nine-month armed standoff is beset by problems both procedural and perilous: High bidders would have only seven days to come up with the financing for the property they have to buy largely sight-unseen because it could be filled with hidden explosives.
No bidders showed up at an Aug. 15 auction at federal court in Concord, where Deputy Chief U.S. Marshal Brenda Mikelson went through the motions of soliciting a minimum bid of $250,000 on the Plainfield compound where fugitives Ed and Elaine Brown holed up in 2007.
The Browns were ultimately captured by U.S. marshals posing as two of the supporters who thronged the compound.
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Another obstacle: Concerns that booby traps and explosives may be buried on the densely wooded property mean federal officials still won’t let interested bidders tour it. Buyers who are prepared to ante up a hefty bid on the Plainfield property have to do it with little access.
During his trial in 2009, Ed Brown testified that explosives in the woods around their home were there to scare intruders, not hurt them. But in a radio interview during the standoff, he said if authorities came to kill him or arrest him, “the chief of police in this town, the sheriff, the sheriff himself will die. This is war now, folks.”
Elaine and Ed Brown are in the 70s. Elaine Brown is serving 35 years in prison; Ed Brown is serving 37 years.
Pricey, possibly bomb-laden property no easy sell - The Washington Post
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