Fugitive tax
protester
is nabbed

Sovereignty activist Nathan Brown
was convicted in 1991
of filing false tax returns

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By Leila Fujimori
lfujimori@starbulletin.com

A federal fugitive, whom Hawaiian activist Dennis "Bumpy" Kanahele once harbored and helped escape, was captured yesterday morning on the Big Island, ending a decade on the run.

Hawaiian tax protester Nathan Brown, 49, was arrested by members of the newly formed Hawaii Fugitive Task Force at a home in Mountain View, said U.S. Attorney Edward Kubo Jr.

Brown was unarmed and tried to hide as task force members closed in on the house, which was otherwise unoccupied, Kubo said.

Nathan Brown: His escape in 1994 was abetted by Hawaiian activist Bumpy Kanahele

In 1991, Brown was convicted on several counts of filing false federal tax returns, which he said was done in protest of the government claiming native Hawaiian land. He was sentenced to 6 years in prison. He appealed the conviction and lost.

Brown led a group of Hawaiian activists who filed false tax returns and is a former member of the Nation of Hawaii, a Hawaiian sovereignty group.

Brown had been free on bond when he failed to show up to serve his sentence, and an arrest warrant was issued in November 1993.

"Upon learning he lost his appeal, he decided it was better for him to be on the lam," said Kubo.

On March 16, 1994, Kanahele, then leader of the Nation of Hawaii, blocked a deputy U.S. marshal trying to arrest Brown as he fled the group's Waimanalo compound.

Brown was the last of about six Hawaiian tax protesters, said James Propotnick, interim director of the state Department of Public Safety.

Propotnick had a personal interest in Brown's capture.

"He became a fugitive on my shift," said Propotnick, former chief deputy U.S. marshal in Hawaii at the time.

Brown was to be held at the federal detention center near Honolulu Airport before serving his sentence at a federal penitentiary.

Kubo would not say whether Brown would be charged with fleeing from custody.

In 1998 the government had already spent $20,000 pursuing Brown, but officials were not available to update the search costs.

Kanahele, who was charged with obstructing arrests and harboring Brown, pleaded guilty Sept. 12, 1994, to interfering with Brown's arrest. He served his sentence of four months of jail and four months of house arrest.

Kubo would not say what led to the arrest of Brown or whether Kanahele or his group had anything to do with providing information.

Kubo used Brown's arrest to unveil the task force at a news conference.

The task force has been operating since the beginning of the year and was formed by the U.S. Marshals Service and the state Department of Public Safety, which coordinates local, state and federal law enforcement's efforts. It targets fugitives whose criminal history includes violent crimes, weapons offenses or drug offenses.

Four deputy marshals and two sheriffs from the state Department of Public Safety are assigned to the task force, which also arrested robbery fugitive Samuel Paiaina on Feb. 4.