Supporter of NH tax evaders sentenced to 36 years

A man was sentenced to 36 years in prison Tuesday for helping a tax-evading couple build up a weapons arsenal and prolong a standoff with U.S. Marshals at their New Hampshire home.

Forty-year-old Daniel Riley of Cohoes, N.Y., was convicted in April of conspiracy and firearms charges for helping Ed and Elaine Brown stave off arrest for nine months at their fortress-like home in Plainfield.

Authorities said Riley brought firearms to the Browns and publicly stated that he intended to forcibly resist efforts to arrest them. Two other supporters who were convicted with Riley in April have been sentenced to lesser terms.

The Browns had been convicted of a series of tax-related felonies in January 2007, but they gathered firearms and explosives and threatened violence if law enforcement tried to arrest them.

The couple were undone by their willingness to entertain anti-government supporters. Marshals posed as supporters to get onto the property and arrested the Browns without incident in October 2007. They are now serving terms of more than five years in prison.