U.S. Marshals and local police brought armored cars, SWAT teams and an explosives disposal unit. Planes flew overhead, heavily armed police officers guarded roadblocks, and phone lines were cut. But despite the heavy police presence, marshals said they did not come to the Plainfield home of tax protesters Ed and Elaine Brown yesterday to arrest them.

Instead, U.S. Marshal Stephen Monier said police were in the area to do surveillance on Ed Brown and his supporters while an IRS criminal investigation unit seized a building the couple own 10 miles away.

"We needed to know where he was, and we needed to know where his supporters were," Monier said to a group of reporters stationed by a blockade about two miles from the Browns' home on Center of Town Road.

Monier said the marshals and IRS agents were acting on a warrant issued earlier this week, which allowed the treasury department to seize the building that housed Elaine Brown's West Lebanon dental practice. Agents wearing "IRS CID" vests were visible in front of the office complex yesterday, but they would not speak to reporters. Cars and trucks parked in the driveway included license plates from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey. An officer with a sniper rifle was stationed on a second-story balcony.

While agents searched and secured the office building in the morning, Monier said, marshals patrolled the perimeter of the Browns' 110-acre property. During the surveillance, a marshal encountered a man whom he identified as a Brown supporter walking a dog. The man, who was not named, was detained and questioned, Monier said. He was released yesterday afternoon.

"Unfortunately, it required U.S. Marshal Service personnel during that encounter to take him into custody," Monier said. "Because he essentially discovered us."

Monier didn't explain why marshals needed to act on the warrant yesterday, saying only there were ongoing concerns about the security of the building.

A few hours later, after the police had left, Ed Brown said that the dog walker had been a plumber, and that the dog, a young shepherd named Zoe, was his. Arms resting on a second-story windowsill, Brown said he was not aware of the extensive police activity nearby. But he had noticed that his phone and internet service had been disconnected and discovered his dog running home about an hour after she left on a walk with his friend, whom he also would not name.

Brown said he saw planes flying overhead Wednesday evening. And in an audio recording posted on a website yesterday morning, Brown reported armored vehicles driving near his home.

"I guess we've got a lot of paranoia among our Freemason police," Brown said from his window. "Big boys with bigger toys. That's all that amounts to."

The Browns were convicted in January of multiple federal felonies related to their refusal to pay income taxes for nearly 10 years. The Browns, who contend that no laws require them to pay taxes, dismiss the court's finding as a "fiction," and describe the judge, Steven McAuliffe, as a "criminal." Both Browns were sentenced to prison sentences of more than five years, but they have resisted capture, remaining holed up in their hilltop home for several months.

Their case has attracted the attention of several fringe groups throughout the country, including tax protesters, militias and the Free State Project. The Browns' supporters have maintained websites with frequent updates, sponsor a daily internet radio show called Ed Brown Under Siege, and communicate about the case through internet message boards, e-mail lists and local meetings.

In January, when Ed Brown first abandoned the tax evasion trial, he warned supporters that the situation might turn into "another Waco." Since then, he has repeated that any attempt to arrest him could turn into a violent confrontation. In the last few months, the Browns have entertained visitors from Tennessee, New York and Hawaii - among other states - who have offered them support, advice and supplies. Those gifts have included weapons, Monier said yesterday.

In recent weeks, internet chatter about the couple had quieted down, but yesterday the web was abuzz with news, much of it incorrect, about the happenings in Plainfield. One website reported that the Brown house was on fire, while others said it was under siege. There were multiple calls for supporters to rush to the Plainfield home to show solidarity.

Ed Brown said the events did not change his perspective.

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