A sovereign citizen and mildly-famous singer from Florida has been arrested and detained by police on multiple occasions for using fake diplomatic plates on more than one car. The 32-year-old woman, Cecilia Mercado, goes by the name “Sessi” as a singer, and has a modest fanbase on social media. Video of her being forcibly dragged out of an Audi Q5 went viral after Mercado’s boyfriend posted the footage online, as WSVN reports.
The video footage was recorded by Mercado’s boyfriend, Scott Huss, who was a passenger at the time of the initial traffic stop. Sunny Isle Police pulled over Mercado’s Audi for ignoring a “Right Turn Only” sign at an intersection, according to WSVN. The exchange between Mercado, Huss and the police escalated after Mercado handed officers a passport instead of driver’s license.
What ensued was a flurry of yelling and physical altercation initiated by police, which they claim was legal due to Mercado’s noncompliance, as the viral video reshared by WPLG shows:
The Sunny Isle Police Department claims that Mercado did not comply because a passport is not a driver’s license. Throughout the exchange, Huss can be heard yelling that police “have no jurisdiction over” Mercado, and arguing that “she is not a United States citizen.” Mercado later went on to say she is a non-resident alien, while police claim she eventually surrendered a driver’s license issued by the state of Florida. It’s worth noting that U.S. citizenship is not a requirement for a state-issued driver’s license, and that eligibility varies state by state.
It seems, however, Mercado is a Bronx native and former resident of New York who moved to South Florida to pursue her musical career, as the Bronx Times reports. Mercado and Huss were apparently speaking on the basis of her being a “sovereign citizen,” which is a popular movement in Florida, as WSVN reports.
When she was stopped, Mercado repeatedly told officers her car was registered with the U.S. Department of State as a diplomatic vehicle. Not long after officers handcuffed Mercado, police gave her four traffic citations but nonetheless released her because they could not verify or disprove the authenticity of the license plate that claimed she was a “diplomat” and “ambassador-at-large.”
The plate also read “no expiration,” and displayed only numbers rather than an alphanumeric code. These were reportedly tell-tale signs that the plate was fake, and the State Department quickly confirmed it was fraudulent. Police managed to return to the scene and locate the Audi to arrest Mercado, charging her with having a counterfeit registration, license plate or sticker on a motor vehicle, per WPLG. Shortly thereafter, Mercado was released from jail on a $2,500 bond.
When sovereign citizen Mercado was released on bail following her arrest, she was seen in a Mercedes-Maybach sedan with similar bogus plates, according to WSVN. While riding home in the luxury car, she broadcast an Instagram video saying to fans, “This is why you have to become a non-citizen national, so you don’t have to worry about paying taxes, and you get your business right…”
The Sunny Isle Police Department once again pulled over the vehicle and arrested its driver, although it wasn’t Mercado. Instead, it was 22-year-old Andres Lopez-Escobar, whose connection to the Florida woman is unknown. Lopez-Escobar is now facing similar charges to Mercado, although he was also charged with driving without a valid driver’s license and with resisting an officer without violence.
When questioned by WPLG, Lopez-Escobar said of the officers, “they tried to kill me,” and added that they are “locos.” There have also been reports of handguns in both vehicles bearing the fake plates. Indeed, it seems like it’s locos all around in the case of South Florida’s sovereign citizens versus the police.
