Arnolds Park man enters guilty plea in federal weapons case
A Lakes Area man authorities said likely harbored anti-government sentiments has entered a guilty plea in a federal weapons case which stemmed from a fatal rollover in January of 2020.
Darrel H. Sorey, most recently listed as living in Arnolds Park, entered his Sept. 15 plea with a Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge, and the plea was accepted Monday. Court documents noted the 37-year-old Sorey had been offered a total of four plea agreements since August of this year, and he has now agreed to plead guilty to possession of an unregistered firearm or destructive device. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison without parole as well as a fine of up to $250,000 and three years of supervised release following his prison term. Prosecutors are expected to dismiss Sorey's remaining charges — possession of a firearm by a drug user and making an unregistered firearm.
Information in the case file said authorities linked Sorey to the weapons case after investigating a fatal Marion County rollover which occurred Jan. 12, 2020. Sorey's 62-year-old father was killed when the Dodge Dakota he was driving left the road around 12:04 a.m. near Knoxville and rolled multiple times, according to the Iowa State Fire Marshal's Office. Authorities found three 15-inch makeshift pipe bombs which had been thrown from the vehicle, but Special Agent in Charge Ron Humphrey said at that time he didn't think the elder Sorey was imminently planning to harm the public.
"Obviously we can't talk to him, so we're trying to track down people who knew him — family members — and determine what was going on," the agent said.
Aside from weapons, ammunition and improvised explosives, authorities found sales receipts in the truck which tipped them off to a Jan. 5, 2020, purchase from Academy Sports in Water Robins, Georgia, as well as a Jan. 8, 2020, purchase from a Walmart in Daytona Beach, Florida. Authorities reviewed surveillance footage from both businesses, which led them to believe the elder Sorey, his son and the younger Sorey's girlfriend Michelle Zeisler had separately purchased items which could be used to make improvised explosives.
"Law enforcement officers from Arnolds Park and Okoboji were familiar with Darrel Sorey and advised that he has made statements consistent with sovereign citizen beliefs in previous contacts with them," Special Agent Andrew Giere with the Iowa State Fire Marshal's Office wrote in a court document. "Based on my training, experience and conversations with other law enforcement officers, I know that sovereign citizens have anti-government views and have, in the past, performed acts of violence utilizing firearms and explosives."
Search warrants were filed for property the Sorey family owns in Arnolds park as well as another for Zeisler's residence in Milford. Sorey was indicted by a U.S. Grand Jury in June of 2020, for possession of various rifles, ammunition, pipe bombs and "a C02 cartridge bomb attached to an arrow."
About three months before his indictment, Sorey had caught the attention of an off-duty O'Brien County Deputy. The deputy saw a black SUV fishtailing along a county road between Sanborn and Sheldon. Criminal complaints show the deputy believed Sorey to be intoxicated — he reported a strong odor of alcohol and open beer cans were in plain sight after the SUV was stopped — but Sorey gave the deputy another reason for his erratic driving.
"Driver stated that the reason he was swerving all over the roadway was because he and the female passenger were having intercourse while driving," the criminal complaint said.
Sorey was booked on charges of careless driving, operating a vehicle without an interlock device, driving while barred and driving while revoked. Unrelated court filings showed Sorey had been designated a habitual offender and his driving privileges had been revoked for a period of six years starting in March of 2015. During the O'Brien County stop, authorities said Sorey had also "attempted to reach several times toward a stun gun that was located near the driver's door handle of the driver's door," resulting in an additional charge of being armed with a dangerous weapon. Dickinson County authorities had similarly charged Sorey with carrying weapons during a Dec. 2, 2019 stop in Milford when Sorey was found to be in possession of a 16-inch knife as well as 2.6 grams of methamphetamine. Sorey later argued in federal court documents that his vehicle should not be considered a motor vehicle because it was not for commercial use, and he claimed "anyone in my automobile is a guest and not a passenger."
Bench warrants were issued in several of Sorey's Dickinson County cases the same month he was indicted by the grand jury, and the 37-year-old initially sought to represent himself in the case. Court records include a number of handwritten motions from Sorey. He asked the court to dismiss his case, arguing that without a middle name or initial on the court documents, the prosecution had failed to prove he was the correct Darrell Sorey to face the charges. He went on to claim the proceedings fell "in the category of kidnapping, false imprisonment and/or deprivation of rights."
However, Sorey informed the court through a Sept. 10 filing this year that he intended to plead guilty to one of the grand jury's charges. The 37-year-old is expected to be detained until sentencing takes place.