For most of his life, Lyndon McLellan has been in the business of country stores—the types of stores where the employees know customers’ names by heart and workers remain loyal for years and years.
His parents owned a general store and grill, and McLellan began helping out there at the ripe old age of 9. Then, 14 years ago, McLellan decided to try his hand at the family business and purchased his own store in the heart of the Bible Belt, naming it L&M Convenience Mart.
Business has been good for McLellan, and though L&M, located in Fairmont, N.C., began as just a convenience store and gas station, he’s since expanded it to include a restaurant that serves hot dogs, hamburgers and catfish sandwiches.
While most of his employees and their families spend Sunday mornings making right with God, McLellan skips church to man the store. He’s there on Christmas Day and during Thanksgiving dinner—a sacrifice McLellan makes for his employees.
“It’s my livelihood,” he told The Daily Signal. “This is all I know how to do. I’m 50 years old, and if I had to do something else, I’d probably be in trouble. This is what I was brought up in. This is all I know.”
What McLellan didn’t know, though, was that the federal government could come in and take away what he’d worked so hard for.
On a summer day last July, McLellan, who hadn’t yet arrived at the store, received a phone call from one of his employees summoning him to L&M. More than a dozen federal agents had flooded into his business—officers from North Carolina’s Alcohol and Law Enforcement, the local police department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation—and they were asking for him.
“It’s my livelihood. This is all I know how to do. I’m 50 years old, and if I had to do something else, I’d probably be in trouble,” said Lyndon McLellan.
When McLellan arrived at the store, he met two federal agents dressed in suits who asked to speak with him in private. McLellan led the agents to L&M’s stock room, where they asked him if he knew of the term “structuring.”
He had no idea.
The federal agents then showed McLellan paperwork that included deposits to the store’s account at Lumbee Guaranty Bank. The statements showed two deposits made within a 24-hour period totaling $11,400.
The statements, they said, indicated he had a history of consistent cash deposits of less than $10,000, which is illegal.
Then, the agents told the small business owner something that shook him to his core: The Internal Revenue Service had seized all of the money in L&M’s bank account: $107,702.66.
MORE
They been F’in US so turn around would be fair play but put all the IRS and Federal Reserve bosses in the stocks first (the head and fist type) and then establish a simple 10% maximum tax (of course warfare, welfare and graft would have to be severely curtailed)..
PS: Structuring, civil forfeiture, raiding safety deposit boxes, taking relatives money, fiat-counterfeit money and the resulting inflation, NSA & IRS spying, militarized police, zero interest rates, Affirmative Action etc etc are all real crimes against US. We should be filling the streets on Saturdays demanding Justice for the 99%.
What this tells me is we have waaaay too many Feds running around snaring innocent guys like Mr. McLellan in their web of trying to justify their existence. This and the “civil forfeiture” hand in our pockets has got to go!
What in the FUCK has happened to; Innocent, until proven guilty?
This poor guy will spend thousands in lawyer fees trying to get his money back, while the government pays their bloodsuckers with our money.
Fuck them all a million times to death.
“ISIS cell blows up all IRS regional offices and all their computers”
That’s a headline I once had a dream about. I’m glad it was only a dream. I love the IRS … the only gooberment agency with SERVICE in their name. They are there to help us. Every country needs a taxman to build roads, maintain a military, and give away free shit. God Bless the IRS!!!!
I’ve been to that store in North Carolina. I know for a fact that he sells marijuana on the side. God Bless civil forfeiture!! Now his shit is our shit.
“The statements, they said, indicated he had a history of consistent cash deposits of less than $10,000, which is illegal.” ———- article
WTF??? My ENTIRE motherfuckin life is a history of deposits less than $10,000.
IRS/ES Hang every single one of them.
no doubt about it. the federal government is ran by thieves and assholes.Get US out of the USG..
Turns out working for the IRS means you don’t have to pay them.
Nearly 1,600 IRS employees didn’t pay their taxes over a ten year period, and more than half of those willful tax cheats weren’t fired because the commissioner saved their job, according to a new inspector general report released to the public Wednesday.
Some employees even got promotions less than one year after they were caught cheating on their taxes.
he government oversight audit exposed that 1,580 had willfully cheated on their taxes but only 620, or 39 percent, actually left the agency.
That means 960 IRS employees who willfully cheated on their taxes from 2004 through 2013 only received minor discipline such as “suspensions, reprimands, or counseling.”
http://dailycaller.com/2015/05/06/irs-employees-cheated-taxes/
Section 1203 of the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act clearly states that IRS employees who cheat on their taxes must be fired unless the IRS commissioner intercedes to save their jobs. Well those commissioners have been busy saving hundreds of the tax cheaters’ jobs over the last decade.
I’m pretty sure this very general store , if not the same store a newer version , is at the same location where I used to stop in my frequent travels though the area to buy the ever so succulent fried baloney sandwiches , with full slices of Vidalia onion and mayonnaise on white bread…suffice to say sucks to be you if you never had one.
Stucky, ya had me a tad ‘worried’ with your initial comment…………….;-)
Two points came to mind (read this same story from several other sites) – 1) exactly WHO was the ‘NC officer’ who tipped the feds, is there even the slightest possibility that there was some personal issue(s) involved? 2) what articulable facts did he state, the ‘facts’ that established sufficient probable cause for this ‘seizure’ to take place. That is particularly pertinent since absolutely NO charges have been filed or even hinted at.
The IRS has become a major problem for both big and small businesses alike. Is it any wonder why Apple keeps its funds offshore and a Facebook exec decided to renounce his U.S. citizenship prior to their IPO. I hate the government being able to track my funds through my bank. Its none of their damn business.
“That is particularly pertinent since absolutely NO charges have been filed or even hinted at.”
—– GomeznSA
You’re thinking much too logically.
I’ve read a ton of these forfeiture cases. Here’s the thing — THEY NEED NO PROOF WHATSOEVER. Even some rat snitch bastard’s accusation is enough. YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS!! Got it??
At this point I would say something hateful about the IRS, this Gooberment, and the Nigger running it …. but I don’t want to offend the libcunt reading this.
All of this came from the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970, which was just another part of the War On (some) Drugs. What is WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE? How many of you have spent the last 45 years of your lives ignorant of this law?
Of course, back in 1970, the $10,000 threshold was a fair chunk of change. Now, however, it is not so much money. Lots of businesses may handle that kind of cash, or slightly less.
In “there ought to be a law” land, how about this: there can be only 50 laws. Total. 50 laws. Some asshole wants to pass another law, they have to repeal one first.
Oh, and no “omnibus” bills any more. Each and ever single item has to be handled separately.
And no law can be written in smaller than 11 point font, Times New Roman, on more than two sheets of 8-1/2 by 11 inch paper, with 1″ margins all around. If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit!
Oh, the horror. Think of all the lobbyists, the staff members, the literally millions of bureaucrats and lawyers who would suddenly be unemployed.
When that happens, ignorance of the law would no longer be a concern.
Until then, remember that you are ALL FELONS!
Three Felonies a Day.
Stephanie, as you know, it’s all about control.
If you step out of line and incite the ire of a prosecutor somewhere, the first thing they do is seize your money so you can’t pay a private attorney for decent representation.
All of this looks a lot like the conditions that lead up to the French Revolution.
Everyone should stuff some funds in their home safe or in the ground.
Time to leave the country.They have all become pirates.
Everything you are saying would be great but has a snowballs chance in hell of ever happening. Even with a generational reset of the most violent kind those kinds of reforms are questionable. Strauss and Howe have always said that there are no guarantees of good results in a 4 th Turning. We should find out in a very few years.
Comment was to Robert.
Overthecliff: Several times I stood my ground and the bully lost. Solidarity toppled the USSR; Hungarians tossed out Bella Kun; the Counter-revolution won in Spain, we won our Revolution. There are Bad ones for sure: the French and Russian barbarians won. If we cringe in our apartments and do nothing, we lose; but if we come out with our prayers, pots and knives etc, fill the streets etc, we can rid ourselves of the oppressors.
Stuck – you seem to misunderstand the law.
Structuring is when a person INTENTIONALLY puts less than $10,000 so as to avoid the scrutiny which occurs when more than $10k is put in.
This poor fuck actually committed the crime, or at least his niece did, of structuring by intentionally depositing less than $10k. It is a crime in and of itself – no other crime need be involved.
It is truly fucked up. This type of crime/penalty happens to US citizens who live overseas all the time, and the penalties are draconian.
My lawyer says it is impossible for a citizen that lives overseas not to commit a crime that has the potential to cost them everything they own. The crime will not be for failing to report income, or for avoiding taxes – but will be for failing to file any one of numerous forms by a fixed due date, many of which people know zero about. The penalty ranges from $10k per year per form, up to 50% of the persons bank balance for each year the form is not filed.
A person could be fined $300k for failing to file a form relating to an account with $100k in it.
That is why Americans are renouncing their citizenship at an exponential rate. Overseas Americans cannot help but commit crimes, and the penalties are more than their net worth, and they do not even know what crimes they may be committing, as the laws are so opaque and ever changing.
This is beyond fucked up.
This guy will eventually, likely, win. Best wishes to him.
Recent news reports say that the IRS has taken in $1.8 trillion this year.
My hat’s off to that enterprising and successful government agency.
There’s been no porn watching for the IRS tax collectors; no one of them’s been gambling in Vegas on our tax money or whoring here and there either. It’s just been work, work, for America’s tax farmers as they’ve harvested record crops. My hat’s off to our 50 state and Federal Government tax screws.
But, they could do better… much better.
I’ve been reading about the French Revolution.
The King paid no taxes and neither did the nobles. Both were beneficiaries of the system. So was the church. The middle and lower classes (the Third Estate) paid for everything.
Of course that’s as it should be. Those who owe their lives to the State should pay the State for their right to life, breath, and food. I firmly believe that. Trash needs to pay to keep themselves and everyting of theirs from being swept away.
Hopefully in the years ahead our dull-for-now rulers will realize that there are trillions in (Third Estate) savings, social security accounts, IRAs, pension savings plans, and elsewhere that could be applied to maintaining the Health of the State.
Doesn’t it make sense that if the State gives life, food, and hope to the people, the people should pledge their lives and their property to the life-giving State?
Of course it does.
Give so that your betters, God’s Chosen People, can live well. And feel fortunate that your betters somethines send a crumb and a smile your way.
Sensetti coughed up 7k this year, fuck my owners, I can take an ass fuckin, all I request is a little lubricant, but oh no, you gotta bring your own. The Some bitches will dry fuck you with no shame!
“What in the FUCK has happened to; Innocent, until proven guilty?”
Taxes are in the category of Admiralty Law. Where you are indeed guilty until you prove yourself innocent. This same system was in wide use by the British in the colonies and was another reason for the revolution.
“Your money” is not your money. It is bank credit and it is the banks, but the government lets you use it for fee that gets settled every April 15th.
Hope you are right, Robert.
I’mnot sure why they even show up to take his money. Several years ago the IRS just took my bank accounts.They s don’t have to tell you anything. I did owe back taxes but had requested more time to pay .I thought everything was find but apparently someone in the IRS had not gotten the memo of our agreement..One day ever cent of money I had in checking and savings accounts was gone.They just took it.I didn’t break any of their laws ..I just owed them money.
Joe Stack needed a bigger plane.
Would this have happened if he used 3 separate banks and deposited the 1/3 of the monies 1 week apart at each bank?
How exactly is a business that is primarily cash supposed to conduct these deposits legally?
@Rise Up: you simply make at least some deposits over $10k. The bank reports those, which isn’t good for you, but it’s all perfectly legal.
The whole thing is total bullshit.