Federal agents seized household items at the Wilmington home of the Rev. Michael Bray, as part of a judgment levied against Bray in a civil case brought against him by Planned Parenthood.
Beds were not seized by the agents and the Bray family was able to reside at the house Monday night. But the household of Michael and Jayne Bray, which includes nine of their children, eight of whom are minors, were notified by the agents they must be out within 30 days.
The case involved is Planned Parenthood vs. ACLA (American Coalition of Life Activists). Bray is one of some 10 defendants in the case.
According to Bray, he owes $1 million as his portion of the judgment in the case that was decided in favor of Planned Parenthood in 1999, reversed in 2001, and then reversed again in favor of Planned Parenthood in 2002. It was appealed to the Supreme Court which chose not to hear it.
“Specified items” listed in a federal court document were the items taken Monday, said Chris Riley, supervisory deputy U.S. marshal out of Cincinnati.
“We are executing a court order issued out of federal court in Columbus seizing some property that was ordered to be seized and sold as part of a judgment levied against the residents here,” Riley said.
Mr. Bray was the only one home when the federal agents, a moving truck and representatives of Planned Parenthood arrived Monday morning. Mr. Bray was cooperative, said Riley.
A friend of the Bray family prayed outside on the other side of High Street during the property seizure. A neighbor walked down to inquire what was going on, and said he felt bad for the children.
Jayne Bray said the civil judgment is against her husband Mike, not against her or the eight minor children who live in the house.
“They [agents] said we have 30 days to get out. That puts me and nine children out on the street. Eight of them are minors. I don’t owe them anything but I and eight minor children are left with nothing because of this,” said Jayne Bray.
“They seized property and they made no distinction between what was mine, what was the kids’, what was Mike’s. What they want really is information. There is nothing of real value that they took. Nothing that can really bring any price for them but they wanted his computer, supposedly so they can sell that computer and get money for it. But that computer is an ancient dinosaur.
“What they want is the information off of that computer, which is not what they’re supposed to be getting. They’re just supposed to be getting financial renumeration, you see, not information,” Jayne Bray said.
Among the items confiscated, Mrs. Bray said, are computers, “ancient” TVs, “a little boom box stereo system, all of Mike’s theological books. Somehow that’s going to bring high dollars I guess at a yard sale, I don’t know.”
The list of items to be seized was several pages long, according to Jayne Bray.
The eight minor children are all students at Wilmington City Schools, ranging from kindergarten to the senior class.
An anti-abortion militant, Michael Bray was convicted in 1985 of two counts of conspiracy and one count of possessing unregistered explosive devices in relation to 10 bombings of women’s health clinics and offices of liberal advocacy groups in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia, according to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia on the internet.
Michael Bray served 46 months in prison from 1985 to 1989, says Wikipedia.
The Bray family has resided in Wilmington since December 2003. Wife Jayne is from this area. They have 11 children.
Michael Bray authored the book “A Time to Kill”, the title of which is drawn from the third chapter of the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible.
By the front door of the home hang a U.S. flag and a Christian flag. A wooden cross is erected in the yard accompanied by a Ten Commandments sign.
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