Property owners tied to Colorado group that fenced off public land failed to pay taxes on the acreage they do own

Property owners affiliated with the Free Land Holder Committee, the group that tried to fence off and claim 1,460 acres of public land in southwestern Colorado, did not pay taxes this year on the 180 acres they legitimately own in Montezuma County — and a tax lien on that land was sold at auction in November.

The 180 acres near Mancos, northwest of Durango, is titled to PJ Sunset P.L.P. Nevada Revocable Living Trust, which is connected to Patrick Leroy Pipkin, who lives on the property and is a self-described ambassador of the Free Land Holder Committee.

That trust failed to pay $12,301.40 in property taxes on three 60-acre parcels, according to records at the Montezuma County Treasurer’s Office.

The taxes were due by April 30 and, because they went unpaid, a lien on the property was sold at auction on Nov. 7, Treasurer Ellen Black said. An out-of-state investor purchased the lien, but Black declined to provide the lien-holder’s name.

The investor must hold the lien for at least three years, earning 15% interest annually, before forcing a property auction to recoup their money, or they can hold the lien for up to 15 years to continue collecting interest should the taxes remain unpaid for that duration.

The revocable trust also could pay its back taxes, plus interest, to “cure” the debt, Black said.

Pipkin and two other men bought the 180 acres in 2020 at a courthouse auction after the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a polygamist cult, forfeited its real estate holdings when its leader, Warren Jeffs, was imprisoned in Texas on rape charges. All three men have past ties to the FLDS church and won federal court settlements against Jeffs and the church after filing wrongful arrest lawsuits.

Pipkin and the co-owners originally bought the property under the name Blue Mountain Ranch LLC but changed the name on the title last year to the P.J. Sunset P.L.P. trust. The Blue Mountain Ranch ownership group had previously paid its taxes on time, Black said.

“They have paid before but not under this name,” she said.

It’s unclear whether the two men who bought the land in 2020 with Pipkin remain co-owners. Efforts by The Denver Post to reach them have been unsuccessful.

In an October interview at the ranch, Pipkin told The Post that he pays taxes even though he does not consider himself a citizen of the United States or recognize Montezuma County government. Instead, Pipkin and other Free Land Holders maintain that they are citizens of The United States of America Republic — with a capital T — and use a series of historical government documents and treaties to make their case.

Still, Pipkin told The Post in October that he planned to pay property taxes owed by Nov. 7, indicating he was aware a tax lien sale had been set.

“We pay our food tax. We pay our fuel tax so that we can use the roads that we’re using to drive these boundaries,” Pipkin said. “We’re respecting United States. We’re not vigilantes or some crazy cult.”

Efforts to reach Pipkin this week to discuss the tax lien sale were unsuccessful.

The U.S. government sued Pipkin and other unidentified members of the Free Land Holder Committee on Nov. 26 over the group’s claims that portions of the San Juan National Forest belong to them. The Department of Justice is asking a judge to bar the Free Land Holders from trying to fence off the forest land again and to deny the group’s claim that it actually owns land officially known as the Haller Deed Area.

The first court hearing in that case is scheduled for March 5.

The Free Land Holders gained international attention in October when members built a barbed-wire fence around 1,460 acres in the Chicken Creek area of the San Juan National Forest, claiming the property belongs to them and not the U.S. Forest Service. The move angered residents in the nearby town of Mancos because Chicken Creek is a popular outdoor recreation area and is used for cattle grazing by local ranchers.

Despite pleas from Montezuma County Sheriff Steve Nowlin to let the government handle the situation, people in Mancos removed the fence and left the posts and coils of barbed wire in the forest for the Free Land Holders to pick up.

Shortly after that fence was removed, the Free Land Holder Committee posted public notices around Mancos announcing it planned to annex an even larger swath of the national forest if no one with “an equal, previous or superior claim” contacts the committee by Dec. 15.

The community formed the Chicken Creek Coalition, a grassroots group of cattlemen, horseback riders, hikers, bikers and skiers to oppose the Free Land Holder Committee’s actions. The coalition has held public meetings about the situation and organized letter-writing campaigns to members of Congress to ask for their support of public lands and to encourage the federal government to stand up to the Free Land Holder Committee.

In anticipation of another fence being built, the community is planning a celebration of public lands at 1 p.m. on Dec. 15 at the Chicken Creek Nordic Ski Trailhead. There will be music and hot drinks as the community holds a “celebration renewing our connection and appreciation for the amazing landscape that we share,” according to posters promoting the event.

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