UPDATED: NH Liberty Activist Arrested on ID Charges

A well-known activist in New Hampshire’s liberty community who is also a nationally syndicated radio broadcaster was arrested by the New Hampshire State Police yesterday on allegations he “obtained multiple identifications” from the NH DMV.

Freeman responds to the arrest: Kidnapping is Poor Customer Service (Why I was arrested yesterday.)

Ian Freeman, 33, of Keene, was arrested at 3:21 p.m. on April 11, and charged with unsworn falsification and prohibitions.

According to a press statement from Troop G of the New Hampshire State Police, Freeman allegedly used different names to obtain the IDs and after an investigation, was arrested in Keene and charged. He was released on personnel recognizance bail and will be arraigned on May 14.

No other information was available at post time about the arrest.

Freeman addressed the arrest on his Free Talk Live broadcast on April 11, calling the misdemeanor charge “a ridiculous technicality” in the law concerning an attempt to officially change his legal name to “Ian Freeman” while still being able to drive (his legal name is Ian Bernard).

Freeman had received probate court approval for the name change, he stated. At the time he tried to change his name though, the DMV had suspended his driving privileges for driving in the state without a New Hampshire license.

“It was harder than I expected it to be to get a driver’s license under the name Ian Freeman,” he said, with the DMV requesting he go to the Social Security office. “They spring this requirement on me … I don’t really have time, I don’t believe in Social Security, I don’t participate in Social Security. I don’t want anything to do with those people.”

He decided to just get his license under his old name and deal with the name change later. So he surrendered his Florida license and got his New Hampshire license in his old name even though he had already changed his name in probate, according to comments on his show. He said the clerks at the DMV didn’t say anything to him about it being illegal or a problem.

“It was my full intention to change my name on that license (and) eventually I did,” he said.

However, when he did that, his original name was considered to be a false name, he said.

Freeman denied any wrongdoing, since it was his real name, and said he would probably be taking on the case himself.

To listen to the full podcast of the show, click this link to the Free Talk Live website. The show airs more than 140 stations across the United States as well as the Internet. 

Freeman is no stranger to making headlines and is often mentioned in articles about the Free State Project, an effort to have 20,000 liberty minded individuals to move to New Hampshire. He was arrested in 2008 in Keene over a spat about a couch left outside. He and others, like former Concord state representative candidate Garret Ean, made national headlines as “Robin Hooders,” who assisted people in Keene who parked downtown but had their meters run out. The group would put extra change into the parking meters, much to the chagrin of city officials and meter maids.