When the FBI Guys Come Knocking...

[Meyer Wolfsheim]

On Tue, 25 Sep 2001, Matthew Gaylor wrote:

> I personally don't answer my door unless I recognize them.  Of course
> I realize that I'm missing scintillating conversation with Mormons,
> Jehovah Witnesses and the occasional vacuum cleaner salesman.
>
> Making yourself generally unavailable should be your first line of defense.

I can't imagine that the FBI would be that easily dissuaded if they really
wished to subpoena you. What about the cases of the feds "camping out"
outside a witness's home in order to ambush him with a subpoena? How do
you defend against this?

In Tim's case, I suppose he could dip in to his Y2K emergency supplies,
and remain holed up for quite some time. But some of us have to go to
work. Is "I'm stuck at home because I don't want to be served" a valid
reason for taking a sick day? :)

More seriously, is it a crime to go out of your way to avoid being served?
If I'm caught crawling out my bathroom window when there's an FBI agent on
my door step, what kind of problems (in addition to whatever put the fed
on my doorstep in the first place) would I be facing?


-MW-