Fourteen members of the Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino tribal police force and security team have filed legal claims against Madera County saying they were falsely arrested and jailed for trying to take back a casino gaming office from an opposing faction.
Among those named in the claims are former District Attorney Micheal Keitz, retired Sheriff John Anderson and prosecutor Nicholas Fogg. The claims suggest that county officials are also involved in malicious prosecution and civil rights violations.
The claims say that each man is seeking in excess of $1 million. The members of the security force claim monetary losses from being unable to work, emotional distress and loss of reputation. Many of the men had to pay bail amounts of hundreds of thousands of dollars, with some in excess of $1 million.
The Madera County Board of Supervisors will review the claims Tuesday during the closed session of its weekly meeting.
“Because they have the potential to be litigation, we will make the board aware of them,” said Regina Garza, Madera County counsel.
If, or when, supervisors reject the claims, it will allow the men to file civil lawsuits against the county.
Claims were required to be filed by last week, which marked six months since the gaming office raid at Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino.
Overall, 15 were charged in the case. Only security officer Miguel Ramos did not file a claim. There are provisions in the law that allow him to file a late claim.
On Friday, Madera County Superior Court Judge Dale Blea would not dismiss criminal charges against the 15 men. Blea said the county acted properly in making the arrests and that none of the defendants had immunity in the casino office raid either as police officers or members of the tribe.
Ten of the men were hired as tribal police officers and were being paid by the Tex McDonald faction of the tribe when they raided the casino office on Oct. 9. The takeover took about five minutes. During the raid, the men handcuffed and detained security forces paid by the Reggie Lewis-Nancy Ayala faction, which had control of the casino and hotel. The men were charged with kidnapping, assault with deadly weapons and a variety of other crimes.
McDonald tribal police chief John Oliveira said the office raid only took a few minutes and his forces never stepped foot on the casino floor. His group’s video shows much of the hotel operations continuing normally as his men detained the other security team. It was not until 90 minutes later when the fire alarm was pulled in the hotel basement by those associated with the Lewis-Ayala security team that the casino and hotel was evacuated.
Mark Coleman, who represents nine of the men involved in the raid, said the men hired by Oliveira were all in law enforcement or retired from law enforcement or had military backgrounds. Some even train military and law enforcement officers.
“What’s happened to these guys is terrible,” he said. “They are all honorable men who thought they were doing legitimate work.”
8 comments:
You know a snake will wiggle, wiggle, wiggle until it gets out of any danger it perceives. I am not surprised that they would do this. I think it is a preemptive move to stop any criminal process against them. It bothers me that there are some very unscrupulous lawyers that will do and say anything to make/steal a buck.
Outstanding! They should have filed those charges long ago. This case is exactly why we have this law. Now, according to Reggie Lewis, "McDonald and King are scapegoats and there are plenty of other people who should be sitting in jail!" Tex McDonald and Vernon King were both elected by the tribal members of Picayune Rancheria, those members still in good standing with the tribe "not disenrolled or banned by the tribe". The elected leaders all seven as a group have the legal right to hire tribal police under the MOU and Public Law 280. With that said, when the Lewis/Ayala factions broke into the Casino during the middle of the night on two separate occasion, the elected tribal leaders called the Madera County Sheriff's department for help, on both incidents former madera county sheriff John Anderson took the matter into his own hands and clearly violated the MOU and Public Law 280 by not arresting the individuals that broke into the casino and or their private mercenaries from STC and their coconspirators from casino security. The tribal police officers and leaders were doing exactly what needed to be done according to U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs Superintendent Troy Burdock. In a meeting in his office Troy told them to handle it yourself when the elected leaders went to the BIA for help, Troy said, "The BIA isn't allowed to interfere with the internal struggles of a federally recognized tribe." I would have included Amy Dutschke Regional Director of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs to the complaint. She violated federal law and previous U.S. Supreme Court ruling by appointing former disenrolled leaders back into the tribe when she recognized the 2010 leadership team. Most of those people she recognized were no longer members of the tribe. Sounds like a deliberate attempt to subvert the will of a Sovereign Nation to me, a clear violation of US Policy! Those of us that live in this area would like to see the private mercenaries along with their coconspirators arrested as well. Let the courts determine the outcome and keep the casino closed and cut off all access to any monies from the casino that 2010 leaders are using now.
This won't get very far.
Hi dora
Those that were wrongfully arrested will hopefully win their case against the corrupt Madera County Sheriff's Department. As an outsider looking in I never understood how unelected leaders (Reggie's fraction) was allowed to takeover the casino when they were voted out of office. Or how they were allowed to live in the casino, steal money, continue to be out of jail, then have rightfully elected tribe members arrested. It's obvious that John Anderson is in Reggie Lewis' pocket. John Anderson along with key members of the corrupt Sheriff's department need to be held accountable along with Reggie Lewis and his people. How did this happen? GREED!
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Rightfully elected? Tex was part of Nancy's illegal take over. There is nothing legitimate about His, or Reggie/Nancy councils.
Then....3 months. What's the real hold up? Timely is not a real answer to my question. I could care less about opening the casino for Dustin Graham to carry out another bag of money for Nancy Ayala to take another pallet of money, for Chance to spend the Chuk inc money like a drunk rock star, for Reggie to hire thugs to send to members homes. I'm sure there are members who can turn a blind eye to this kind of corruption.... but I'm different, and that's not a bad thing, it's not negativity.
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