Self-proclaimed sovereign citizen sentenced to 14 years in prison for kidnapping

A Missouri man was sentenced Friday to 14 years in prison for helping a woman with the kidnapping of her own children from their Stillwater foster home.

A Payne County jury convicted Elijah Erlebach in November, and the 32-year-old maintained his innocence and claimed it was law enforcement that was unjustly abducting him at Friday’s sentencing hearing.

In December 2021, Oklahoma Child Protective Services placed Samantha Ricks’ 6-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son into foster care after she was found unfit to be a mother for exposing her children to inappropriate sexual behavior, according to an OCPS report.

Then in August 2022, the Payne County Sheriff’s Office arrested Ricks and Erlebach on kidnapping charges. An affidavit said the duo grabbed the girl outside the home while she was riding her bike and intended to go back for the boy.

Read more: Stillwater News Press