27 July 2023- A Greencastle man allegedly now known as Kwame Asher Bey is looking at charges of fleeing officers and fleeing an officer. Byron Anthony Staple is charged with misdemeanor resisting arrest, misdemeanor false identification to a law enforcement officer, misdemeanor fleeing an officer, traffic violations of driving without an inspection, violating camping rules, and summary marijuana possession. Staple is behind bars in Franklin County Jail on a bail of $2,000.
Around 6pm on July 24th, DCNR Rangers were on patrol in the Buchanan State Forest, Todd Township, Fulton County when they allegedly spotted a Honda Pilot parked in a campsite that didn’t have an inspection sticker. After waiting about five minutes to see if the driver was just stopped momentarily, the Ranger approached the sole occupant, now known to be Byron Staple. Staple allegedly explained to officers that his name was “Kwame Asher Bey” and he was a consulate for the “Unami Buffalo Nation”. Staple also allegedly said he was a sovereign citizen.
The Unami Buffalo Nation in Pennsylvania describe themselves online as “the perennial Moors/Muurs, descendants of the Moroccan Empire.” Additionally, they “establish this law of restoration, reinstitution, and reaffirmation of the Moroccan Empire”.
Rangers ran the name Kwame Asher Bey through their system, which yielded no results. They, however, ran plates on the car and found them to be registered to Byron Staple. When Rangers approached Staple with this information, he allegedly replied “that was his previous person’s name, and that name no longer exists”. He also reportedly said he would soon be removing the PA tags and putting “private plates” on his vehicle.
Officers ran Staple’s government name through databases and found he had multiple warrants out of Franklin County for failure to appear and failure to pay court fees. When they tried to take Staple into custody on these warrants, police say Staple rolled up his window, turned on the car, put it into drive, and started driving away. Officers were eventually able to convince Staple to put the car into park again. He was taken into custody shortly after, but allegedly had to be forced to the ground and taken into custody while actively resisting.
Police had Staple’s vehicle towed from the campsite the next day. While conducting an inventory of the seized car, police allegedly found a clear glass jar containing marijuana flower.
Byron Staple failed to post bail of $2,000. He is behind bars in Franklin County.
Sources: Docket Number: MJ-39402-CR-0000060-2023, Incident No.: 8102-23-91
