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Subscribe to RSSSAN DIEGO – A 92-year-old retired teacher who gained national attention for selling suicide kits for $40 was placed on five years of supervised probation on Monday for failing to file federal tax returns on her mail-order business.
© Daniel Wallis1 / Reuters / REUTERS
Sharlotte Hydorn at her home in El Cajon, California May 26, 2011.
Sharlotte Hydorn, a great-grandmother, pleaded guilty in December to a misdemeanor charge of failing to file federal income tax returns from 2007 through 2010, a period during which investigators said at least seven customers used her kits to kill themselves.
Prosecutors said Hydorn sold about 1,300 of the do-it-yourself asphyxiation hoods during those years but agreed to stop making or selling the kits as part of her plea deal. She was sentenced by a federal judge in San Diego. She was also ordered to pay a fine of $1,000.
Hydorn was prosecuted under the U.S. tax code because "the sale of suicide kits is not a violation of federal law," assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Mazza said after the sentencing.
Read NBCSanDiego.com's report on sentencing of suicide-kit maker
Hydorn said after sentencing that all she wanted to do was allow people to die at home, surrounded by family and friends.
'Agonizing pain'
A Spokane, Wash., native, Hydorn began assisting physicians with patient suicides after her husband, Rex, died of colon cancer in 1977, said Charles Goldberg, her lawyer. Her husband had been in "agonizing pain" and did not want to die "filled with tubes in a hospital," she said.
Hydorn felt she could design a helium hood that would be more comfortable for patients than the ones she saw doctors using. She received "thousands" of orders for her hoods and began charging for her time and materials. Hydorn's kits included tubing, material for the hood and a user diagram. A helium source was not included.
Agents who raided her home in suburban San Diego last year found checks that were not cashed and thousands of dollars in cash from buyers, Goldberg said.
Prosecutors said she took no steps to verify the physical condition, age, identity or mental state of her customers and therefore had no idea whether her kits were being bought by people suffering from depression or by minors acting without the consent of an adult. Court documents say she sold more than 1,300 kits to people across the United States and abroad. Most of them contacted her by mail or phone.
Hydorn had pleaded guilty to the tax charge dating back to 2007 and acknowledged she made more than $150,000 in income from various sources during that period, including from the sale of helium kits.
Hydorn said she sold the kits under the name "GLADD Group." In court, she admitted she made $66,717 in 2010 and paid no taxes on that.
NBCSanDiego.com, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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She should have paid the tax. The last resort of a government that wants to get you without a legal reason is income tax evasion.
It worked on Al Capone. Why not a retired teacher?
Sounds like a great business opportunity - maybe I'll see if she wants to sell the business. No worse than owning a McDonald's - I've seen plenty of ambulances in front of them. At least at The Heart Attack Grill, you get a tasty burger.
Stupid people. If you are n the internet placing these orders, you might as well look it up and save the 40 bucks for an urn.
Did anyone commit suicide with her kits? If so, then she should be behind bars like Kavorkian (aka Dr. Death) was sentenced to.
I've got my own kit... a .357 hollowpoint.
What if a depressed teenager used one, or if someone used it to kill another person. I can't imagine the guilt she would feel if that happened. Seems like she should go behind bars like Kavorkian for assisted sucide.
The woman in the picture is 92!? I don't want to buy a suicide kit from her, I want her to tell me where the fountain of youth is!
Her fountain of youth is Helium!
So many comments regarding kids and depressed people. Look, if a kid wants to kill them selves they will find away. Most will not want to wait the time it takes to do the research, place the order (checking accounts and credit cards) then wait for their order to arrive. Then use their checks and credit cards to buy the helium. Parents be aware if a mysterious helium tank shows up in your kids bedroom.
Depression is a clinical issue. These people too will find a way to kill themselves if that is what their hearts are set on. The majority of gun deaths are suicides. People should have the right to go out if they want. When did the whole goal of life change from living to living for longevity reasons only. Those that bring GOD into this...think about how much medicine interferes with God's plan.
For me, I don't want to be here if I can not LIVE my life. I don't want to be here just because some little piece of my brain does not know that the rest of my body is dead. I don't want a doctor to keep trying to keep my body alive as each major system starts shutting down and the chances of survival are close to nil.
How many of you out there know some one that was finally, after many thousands of dollars spent and insurance was exhausted, watched as doctors over dose the patient with moriphine to allow them to go? How many out there look forward to dying in a hospital or would you rather go out in your own terms?
NONE of us get out of this life alive. I for one would rather choose my way out and no one has a right to tell me I can't. It is my life.
If you went to Dr. Kervorkian, and you didn't die, could you sue him for malpractice?
She should have paid her taxes, HOWEVER, I don't believe for one minute that this case was about her failure to pay taxes. This was about the government wanting to punish her for helping people end their lives. The government has no business forcing people who are in pain and suffering to go on living. This should be a decision between a patient and his/her doctor; the state has no business inserting itself into this decision, just like other decisions. The government, at the direction of the religious fundaMENTALists, is seeking to impose its morality upon everyone.
Honestly between the cost of material and time she spends on each kit I doubt she made much of a profit (unless the numbers above already take material cost into account). Make no mistake, this was the government giving into political correctness pressure and taking a jab at her (this is coming from a liberal).
The only thing we really own in this world is our life - if a friend ever decided to kill themselves I'd never take that right away from them. What I would do is talk it out with them and if their logic and reasoning is sound I'd respect their wishes. That and fulfill any last wishes they may have.
Lets ALL read the post. It says she sold kits. As in do it yourself kits. I'm thinking no teenager is going to bother. Had to make the hood from a patttern, buy their own helium tank. I don't see alot of teens bothering.
Sadly I have watched family members die slowly in horrific pain from Cancer and I vote for helping them pass in peace.
My kit is a 9mm hollow point. There ain't going to be no back of the head left to feel anything and no one will find me for days. The trigger pull is the last thing I will feel. Should I go to jail for just thinking about it?
joe to joe, no but you will go to hell for doing it right cath licks?
Catholics have been using the commit suicide and you will go to hell routine to keep the money coming in for centuries. Why shouldn't the US government do the same. It really is the same thing if you think about it. The "Church" was the governmental institution up until Martin Luther knocked them up side the door. Suicide is a choice God would hope we wouldn't have to make but I am not sure we go to hell for it.
Hoodie: She looks younger than "tanning mom".
To be fair, the government has used the tax code to get known members of organized crime as well. That being said, I have no particular issue with the right of a person to decide the time and manner of their own death (so long as they don't plan on taking anyone else with them, of course) but obviously she should've paid her taxes.
Tsk, tsk.
BobbyR86 ~~ I agree with you. First of all, she should have paid her taxes. Secondly, I do believe that she should have posted that the buyers of her 'kit' must be 18 years old. And maybe she did post that, I've not seen her site. But of course, we know that anyone under 18 could have purchased her 'kit', without much trouble.
I've known a few people who would have taken the option to end their life on their terms, rather than in a hospital hanging on to life in excruciating pain. I'm not sure what I would do under these circumstances, because I've not been quite that sick in my life, while facing the fact that I would never recover and get well. But I have no judgment against anyone who would make this choice.
My dad had dementia, and I took care of him for the last 3-years of his life. Oftentimes in his moments of clarity, he would express how he didn't understand why he was still alive on this earth. He was ready to move on to his next 'assingment' as he put it. He died just 6-days short of his 94th birthday.
If you aren't competent enough to figure out how to use any old plastic bag to kill yourself, you aren't competent enough to decide to kill yourself.
By your same logic then 75% of the population should be sterilized as well. There are lots of incompetent parents.
Scuba; her invention was painless - lets put a plastic bag over your head and see if you die comfortably (sarcasm intended).
Since the first humans walked the earth - they knew when it was time to go - some humans lost touch with reality when they sold their soul to religion.
Number one reason humans commit suicide - they don't want to burden others - sounds very competent to me.
Most of those incompetent parents are single mothers who have multiple baby-daddies.
I thought we called them sperm donors.
Well if you aren't competent enough to understand that it's not the plastic bag that killed them but helium..then you should not be allowed to use the internet.
If you wish your asphyxiation to be painless, then you cannot let the concentration of carbon dioxide to build up as the oxygen content is decreased.
The helium hood lets you breath normally while replacing the inhaled air with helium and letting the exhaled air be vented. Nitrogen would work as well as helium except that cylinders of compressed nitrogen are harder to get than those of helium.
Not everyone who wants to die now will want to die a month from now. In other words, sometimes people become really depressed and seek suicide as a way out when they could have gotten help and lived and gone on to have a happy, productive life. I wonder if any of these people bought her product-people who could have lived good lives if only they had gotten help dealing with their depression.
Your name is "scubasteve" and you didn't catch that the kit did not include a helium source? Your name is "scubasteve" and you're not aware of the suffocating feel of CO2 buildup as opposed to the calm delirium and narcoleptic effect that helium intoxication with oxygen starvation produces (not unlike nitrogen narcosis at depth)? Using helium is actually the least traumatic and painfree way of suicide available "without a prescription".
I did understand how this works. I also understood that it did not come with a helium source. It's just a plastic bag with a tube to make the hookup to helium slightly easier. You could take a regular plastic shopping bag, put it over your head, and fill it with helium with very little trouble.
A plastic bag deprives your brain of oxygen and would be terrifying and horrible for you and your loved ones. Helium gently sends you off to sleep and you simply keep sleeping. BIG difference.
My question is why was her stopping the sale of these kits part of the plea deal. If there was nothing illegal about the sale of the kits, the courts had no business including her stopping selling them part of the plea agreement. The courts should not be allowed to extort you into ceasing a legal activity just because they do not agree with it. I am not condoning suicide, I just do not like the courts and prosecutors overreaching into forcing this woman to stop doing something that is completely legal just because they do not like it. The plea deal should have addressed her illegal activity only, which was the tax evasion.
JS in SD..because only THE US GOVT has the right to kill you!!
Because the government would rather you die a long, expensive death and then get $$paid$$ for it
There's all types of coercion out there like this. It turns out to be perfectly legal as long as it's the government doing the arm bending. The federal government especially likes to bend the law based on funding and compliance in areas where they have no jurisdiction.
Just another reason the government needs reigned in a bit.
First, it's illegal because "she took no measures to ascertain the age of the purchasers". Thus, it's a public hazard as children, incompetents and the depressed, could purchase and use.
Second, it's against state law in CA. Unsure how many states have enacted legislation in addition to Oregon, but CA has not. Appears Federal Gov't has allowed States to make the decision.
It wasn't illegal because the helium wasn't included and that is what kills.
She was under no obligation to take the plea deal.
Plea deals are funny things. Sometimes you get a conviction, even though the person pleading doesn't admit guilt.
And sometimes you get agreements to not do the illegal activity.
In her case she seemed incapable of running at least that particular business and paying her taxes, so she'll just have to try some other business.
JS in SD ~~ That is a very good question, and I wish I knew the answer, other than the government can construe anything, and invent and circumvent any issue. We are a 'free' nation, but the government has some pretty big britches, and they use their power to manufacture, twist and cover up just about anything they believe is for the 'greater good'. On the other hand, I'm very appreciative of the government for the good they do. Some of our taxes help the elderly, the indigent, single parents, our roadways etc, and I appreciate that.
I do believe that people should have the option to end their lives if they are terminal. It's a sticky issue, and not everyone will agree.
I'm glad assisted suicide is legal here in Washington state. May need it someday. Sounds like she only had to pay the 1K fine.
We can't have people making decisions for themselves, can we. Freedom to end one's life or to use medical marijuana is VERY DANGEROUS and will not be tolerated by the oligarchy. Hence the US Attorneys will start monitoring your phone calls, emails, travels, friends & family, etc etc. They will not stop until they figure out a way to take you down.
Start?
A life of suffering isn't worth living and no one nor any government should have the power or right to force one to keep living in agony, either physical or mental. I love the idea of community centers which would provide the kind of death we give to murderers and psychopaths of the lowest orders. I want to go when my life becomes too painful to bear like Edward G. Robinson in SOYLENT GREEN. Provide a soothing, tranquil environ, give me a good shot of something to stimulate my pleasure centers, a sedative and a quick toxin.
hmmm... what if the chemicals will have a long lasting, adverse affect on your health?
I am all for the idea of the government staying out of people's chosen way of death if they are able to make their own decisions but I fear what you are suggesting could lead to bad places. Two weeks ago my husband was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. The tumor was removed and he is very functional now with only some hearing loss and a speech deficit that can be corrected with speech therapy. We have been told he has hope of getting at least five more years of quality life but that is after I took him to a university hospital. The local doctor told me to make him comfortable and let him go in peace while offering less than moderate hope of him even having a year of life ahead of him. He also argued against taking him home and was very insistent I put him in a nursing home. I couldn't do that to him and once home he quickly made progress I was told would not occur. Where there is life there is hope and I fear the day someone feels they have the right to decide for me when I should give up hope. That said what she did is not entirely evil. I can understand that for some people without religious compunctions against it that this might be an option. I cannot condone it but it is not my right to decide for someone else.
I would like to add to PJ's comment. Many people believe that they would not want to live if they were paralyzed or on a ventilator or whatever; however, as a PT I have seen many, many people in these situations who quite clearly did not want to die. Once I went into a hospital room to treat a new patient, and a younger woman was sitting in a chair in the room. I told her who I was, and she told me to please not bother the patient, just to let her die in peace. I had to at least evaluate the patient, and I explained that to the woman; and once again she urged me to please not bother the patient, just to let her die in peace.
The patient was on a ventilator, and I expected her to be comatose or something based on the statements from the woman in the room; however, the patient was fully responsive and cooperative with my evaluation. In fact, she did so well with the evaluation, I asked if she wanted to sit up; and she nodded yes. Once she was sitting and had her balance, I asked if she wanted to stand; and once again she nodded her head vigorously. She was only able to stand for a few seconds; but, after I had finished the evaluation, I turned around to see the woman in the room sitting there with her mouth wide open.
You guys need to think about this. You may not think you would want to live a certain way, but when you actually get there you may find that you are not ready to go gently into that good night. I've seen a lot of very sick, very impaired people who worked very hard at rehab and made tremendous strides. The docs don't always know how far a person will be able to progress. I've personally been surprised by patients many times. Also, a person can go on a ventilator and sometimes they can be weaned off-I've seen that as well. I have a close relative who has had ARDS (Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome) not once, but several times-EACH TIME she has been put on a ventilator and each time she has been able to be weaned off.
It's one thing if someone is brain dead and there is no hope. I personally hate for anyone to suffer, don't get me wrong. I also know there are many cases that sort of fall in between, and I could not presume to judge anyone who has had to decide in situations like that. I know, too, that sometimes a person who is terminally ill with cancer and in severe pain will be given very high doses of morphine-I could not argue with helping someone with pain. I just greatly value human life. The day we stop valuing it is the day we start deciding who should live and who should die and who is worthy of life.
And then there is this:
Do we want suicide to become a business; and do we want those who do provide assisted suicide to provide it to the mentally ill, who might not be suicidal after appropriate treatment? I'm asking these questions not as an alarmist but because these things could possibly be happening in places where there is assisted suicide, if the quote above is accurate.
uh, Soylent Green? Thats the one where they recycle humans as a food source right? Pass
Sounds like a life sentence to me
She should drag out her case... After all, time is on her side (that she will not have to pay). If it drags out too long she can always read what she's been selling.
OOOOOO get the old woman for tax evasion while at the same time give billions away to illegal aliens claiming kids that live in mexico watch this video!!.
You didn't post the video right, but I heard about that today on local talk radio and you are correct, and it makes me f*cking furious.
That's right, everybody. Listen to what Tim from bradenton said. Illegal aliens are sending YOUR tax dollars (welfare) to children (supposed dependents), which may or may not actually exist, down in Mexico.
This country makes me sick to my stomach most days.
This shows that the IRS KNOWS and REFUSES to prevent income tax fraud being flagrantly comitted by illegal aliens claiming kids that don't even live in the U.S.!!
Next, it will be the states looking to see if they got their share of sales tax. What a bunch of vultures; wanting a piece of flesh before the person is dead. Perhaps suicide kits should be tax free.
The fact that she is a great grandmother has Nothing to do with the story. Every time an older woman does something news worthy, she is quickly labelled a grandmother. Yet, they never address older men as being grandfather. This is a method to keep women in their place. Grandmothers, baking cookies.
good thought but I think the suppression of women thing is a bit of a stretch. Are you coming out against cookies? I hope not as I favor them. I also favor equal justice under the law and individual liberty. This of course makes me an enemy of the right wing pinhead party. so be it. Have a great day.
If the picture is actually of the 92 year old woman, I cannot believe it. No way does that lady look 92 years old.
Do 92-year-olds bake cookies?
Get over it. All this equality crap makes this Granny sick. I personally will never give up superiority for equality.
What a crock of @!$%#. This woman has the nerve to help people stop suffering, and the government can't allow that! So, since the kits aren't illegal, they nail her on tax charges. Our beloved government- no matter how you slice it, the bastards are gonna getcha!
Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door!
At her age, she'll be sentenced to 10 minutes-to-life, whichever comes first.
see you all at the polls this year get rid of them all and take back america
What part of representative democracy do you not understand? Have a good time trying to change the tide.
Hey MSNBC
A WWII D-Day veteran has just died from the beating by a 20 year old Black man. His wife died earlier at the hands of the same Black man. Where is the story?
The Blaze does not have it there either. So what is your point?
Didn't know the Blaze was a News Organization like NBC/MSNBC.
That is a critical addition to the story under discussion. Not!
slodon - you silly fool. You know darn well MSNBC does NOT report on crimes committed by black people - even those involving violent murders of veterans. That would be racist ya know! Don't want to stereotype any blacks as being the criminals they may be. Remember, they're "victims" of whitie.
Why don't you tell us where the story is?
Well it is a news organization, but I guess Fox News is more like MSNBC. Ok, Fox News does not have it either. But I didn't want to sound like a generic "Fox News is evil yada yada" person.
Pith
Fox did have the story on 05/07/2012
cullerco
It happened in Tulsa,OK. Dob Strait survived until May 07,2012.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2012/04/gannett-army-101st-airborne-veteran-beaten-wife-killed-robbery-042112/
I stand corrected. I thought it was something more recent though, so I was expecting a headline. Unless I missed that the same night too.
Stupid.
YOU ALWAYS PAY THE TAX MAN.
So why did they raid her house if it was not illegal to sell them?
They raided her house to assert their authority and power. And being 92, they assumed she was a threat to society. After all, retired school teachers are smarter than law enforcement officers.
I am terminal myself with liver cancer. If I have to I will go to the state of Washington. Until you've personally dealt with the pain involved & how much of a burden you've become to your family. You have no idea. Daily hospice comes at an enormous cost to the family. You can no longer eat or digest food. Can't go to the bathroom without help. The amount of morphine they give you, in no way dulls the pain. Everyone suffers in a scenario like this. I pray every night that I don't wake up the next day. My 2 sons are going to haul me to Washington, because they can't stand to watch what their Father is going thru. They fully support me. If living the way I am now is life, I chose death. Your kept alive because of greed. They want to suck every last nickel out of you. The worst part is I have young grandchildren who are watching this too. To see the tears in their eyes when they come to visit is unbearable. Anyone who is truly terminal should have the right to chose.
Euthanasia is a beautiful word, graceful and flowing, like a beautiful angel with gossamer wings.
Washington will welcome you when you are ready. In Washington we (at least most of us) believe in compassion, rather than suffering. My thoughts are with you and your family.
Jon, if you are for real, I am sorry you are suffering so badly. I would not want anyone to have to suffer pain for any length of time. However, I believe that every human on this earth has tremendous worth even when they are suffering, near death, and even incontinent. I am a PT and have seen it with my patients-I have also seen it with people I have known. I would never presume to tell someone what they should do, and I'm not trying to tell you. I have personally been in severe physical pain, and I know what that is like-you may not want to hear that good actually came out of it. I'm not sure what I can wish for you that you would accept, and I don't know if you would accept prayer. Just know that I have seen people in very bad shape who were unable to care for themselves and were dying (one was a severely burned patient who had been homeless), and I personally thought their lives were worthwhile.
Josh, I have to agree with 'seen too much', who put it so well and so sensitively.
And, you're still able to contribute, seeing how well you can communicate, and can have much more to offer others as you go through this. I have seen family and friends inspired after seeing how their family members face death and suffering. Faith does help one find and understand meaning in suffering: We can offer up our suffering as a beautiful prayer for ourselves and for our children/grandchildren and others. It is a beautiful union with Christ in His suffering for others - if you are a person of faith and deeply suffering physicall, emotionally or spirituall, you may understand this.
Me thinks 'Seen too much" and 'What If-3946927' be the same person!
Jon, I'm very sorry about your condition, and fully understanding of your point of view. I also have incurable, metastatic cancer that is currently "under control" with drugs that have side effects that make life difficult, and for some, impossible. Men have committed suicide just from that, but I can tolerate them. If I maintain good cardiovascular and dietary health practices, and don't have a stroke, this will probably go terminal at some point.
I know full well what a horrifyingly painful and protracted process that dying from this disease is, and most doctors will say it is one of the worst ways to go. If I get to that point, I may well make the commute to Washington myself, and spare my family the financial and emotional burden that staying alive would place on them. I am still doing OK with my blood tests and scans, and nothing is getting larger, but some of the "spots" are not getting any smaller, just "more well defined", whatever the hell that means. But it still gives me hope there's a bit more time on the alarm clock, and I just can keep hitting the snooze button.
You have my best wishes that your end, when it comes, will be peaceful and painless, as I hope will be the case for myself. Everyone dies, like it or not, but some ways are better than others. Laying in bed, totally incapacitated and unable to take care of the most basic personal needs, while enduring pain that no treatment short of severing the nerves will palliate, is not what I want to experience, but the prospect is there. I have endured surgical pain that made me question at that time if I wanted to remain alive, but knowing that it would eventually go away was the only thing that kept me going. If I knew that that type of pain would never end, and no drugs in the world would reduce or eliminate it, then it would be time to go. I do have a living will, but getting hospitals to actually follow a DNR order can be difficult. I have seen it happen.
God bless you and keep you. Please tell him I said Hello. Curl up in his pocket and rest awhile. Thats my dream.
Sorry, I'm not "What if." We're different people. I've personally been in pain that no drug could affect, and I had no idea if or when the pain would ever end. Furthermore, the hospital staff did not believe that I was in pain and deliberately did things that increased my pain. The only relief I received was when I passed out. Yes, I definitely thought about ending my life, and I could have done it fairly easily-but I chose not to. I coped by singing quietly to myself and with lots of prayer. At one point I almost made a deal with the devil, but someone came by and pulled me out just in time. The vast majority of the time, however, I basically had no one to help me and had to rely on prayer and my own ability. For Mo, you can curl up in God's pocket and rest without dying because I certainly did, pain and all!
Please excuse the Bible verses, all you cynics; God certainly helped me in my time of pain! You guys have no idea.
Who know's one day you may be able to buy one of those kits at a big box store near you. Really if we have the right to sentence someone to death, abort the unborn, we should really have the right to decide when we have had enough. It's not to be taken lightly, but a person should have a choice.
Anyone who wants to check out should be able to choose his method and have it supplied. One's own mortality is difficult to face and if someone is ready to face it, they should not be denied an easy painless method. Life is just temporary anyway; it's really not worth taking all that seriously.
'This won't hurt' - just because it's legal doesn't mean it's right. There are deeper and more timeless truths that sometimes the law misses. (Such as when slavery was legal, women weren't allowed to vote, etc.)
And Leroy - your life is precious. It is to be taken seriously. Watch that Christmas special, "It's a Beautiful Life," one more time.
What if, What if one choose not to go the medical route but dies in the manner fate, destiny , God has decreed? Chemo in any form is not natural. Radiation kills. What if you just let the disease run its course? Is that still suicide?
Dying slowly in pain brought on by delaying the inevitable is Mans will.Not God's
I don't think suicide kits are what you are talking about, Mo-however, they are what this article is talking about. I would not argue with someone who chose not to undergo chemo or radiation, as that would be their choice-and I could honestly understand that choice. This article and choosing to forgo certain potentially lifesaving treatments (questionable in certain cases) are two completely different things, however.
By "questionable" I meant questionably lifesaving-as they do sometimes only prolong life for a very short period when a person is suffering severely. However, sometimes they bring cancer into complete remission or prolong life for several years. That's what I meant, and I think that is what Mo was alluding to as well.
Way to go! Pick on an elderly woman who was trying to help people die with dignity. No matter that her project was not illegal. Stop wasting tax payer money and you won't have to chase the elderly for a few thousand dollars. Go after the bankers and corporate cheaters who have bilked the government out of millions of dollars, if not billions. But, hey, its much easier to hassel a 92 y/o retired teacher. She put up no resistance, unlike the banks and corporations. This was NOT about taxes. It was about stopping her from a legitimate enterprise with which the government did not agree.
This story reminds me of something. Only 2 things guaranteed in life. Death and Taxes.
Little 'Ol Lady From Pasadena,
If I ever made it to 92 and the feds or someone gave me a hard time I'd tell them to go blow it out their ass ... what terrible thing are they gonna do to you? ...give you 'life' in prison? Oooh, that's so scary :-) Kudos, and give 'em Hell granny!
Peace