COURT ORDER SOUGHT TO BLOCK PALMDALE CHECK SEMINARS.

Byline: Bhavna Mistry Daily News Staff Writer

Federal attorneys are seeking a court order against a Palmdale woman and two other people accused of creating bogus checks and staging seminars to tell people how they can use them to pay off debt.

A hearing is scheduled for Monday at the downtown Los Angeles federal courthouse for the temporary restraining order filed against Mary Elizabeth Broderick of Palmdale and two associates, Adolph Hoch of Loma Linda and his daughter, Laura Marie Hoey of Moreno Valley.

``We're asking that they stop printing and distributing these certified checks,'' Assistant U.S. Attorney Pamela Johnston said.

Broderick has described herself as a follower of LeRoy Schweitzer, a leader of the anti-government ``freeman'' group, and attended one of the group's seminars in Montana during the summer of 1994.

Schweitzer and another man were taken into custody Monday during a standoff at the group's Montana compound that continued into its fourth day Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.

The freemen group rejects almost all government authority and insists they have their own laws and courts.

The U.S. Attorney's request for a restraining order comes the same week that FBI agents searched the home and office of Broderick, as well as rooms at the Essex House hotel, where she had conducted seminars in which people are told how to place liens against property and use her ``comptroller's warrants'' or ``certified bankers checks'' to pay off debts, documents show.

At the workshops, Broderick usually tells her audience that each check is an assignment of a multimillion dollar ``lien,'' credit or debt she holds against the government based upon an illegal search conducted of a business she had, according to court documents filed by the U.S. Attorney's office.

Broderick's seminars and workshops in Lancaster are attended by hundreds of people from as far away as Hawaii, who court records show are charged up to $200.

Broderick was not at her Palmdale home Wednesday. Her husband, Richard Broderick, said she was out of town until Friday.

The court documents accused Broderick, Hoey and Hoch of issuing warrants for more than $30 million, passing them out to people who in turn have presented them to banking institutions and tried to pay off large debts with them.

While FBI officials would not comment on their investigation, in an earlier interview, FBI special agent Gary Auer noted some of the freemen group's activities.

``Their goal is to flood the banking system with fraudulent checks,'' said Auer in a January interview. ``They have declared themselves a sovereign nation and believe that they have the right to create their own financial instruments.''

Five Antelope Valley people investigated by the FBI in January attempted to use the checks to pay for 10 Cadillacs, four motor homes, to bail a person out of jail and pay off large debts.

When banks or other businesses would not accept their checks, the people sent the institutions letters citing government codes and threatening to place liens on their property if the checks were not honored.