Nine members of the Picayune Rancheria Of Chukchansi Indians in California are suing current and former Madera County law enforcements officials in federal court over arrests and prosecutions that resulted from a nighttime raid of Chukchansi Gold Resort and Casino on October 9, 2014. They claim malicious prosecution, false arrest, economic damages, emotional distress and excessive bail. They seek damages, including court costs.
The nine were part of a group of tribal police and others who took part in an occupation of the second story of the casino, located near Coarsegold in an attempt to wrest control from a rival faction of the tribe that claimed to be the legitimate tribal authority. There were actually four factions battling over control of the tribe at the time.
The six lawsuits name the former District Attorney of Madera County, Michael Keitz, and retired Sheriff John Anderson, the current District Attorney David Linn, prosecutor Nick Fogg and others in the Sheriff’s Department.
The casino was on the verge of being closed on the night of the raid from the National Indian Gaming Commission because the tribe had not filed audits for two previous years. A group of deputized tribal members led by Tex McDonald—who claimed to be the legal head of the tribe—seized control and handcuffed and detained members of a rival faction, led by Reggie Lewis, who also claimed to be the legal head.
Because of the raid, a U.S. District court and state Attorney General Kamala Harris ordered the casino closed for more than year. The participants in the raid were later arrested and tried for false imprisonment and other charges.
The litigants claim that the Sheriff and District Attorney were both informed ahead of time of the McDonald faction’s plans. When Sheriff’s deputies arrived later, instead of arresting the people that McDonald’s group had taken into custody, or ejecting them from tribal property, they let them go—and several days later arrested McDonald’s group.
The people the deputies released later returned to the casino, which led to a fracas between the two groups in the casino basement, which led to fire alarms going off and a panicked evacuation of the casino by employees and patrons. It also led to the 14-month closure of the facility.
By the end of October Attorney General Keitz issued arrest warrants for McDonald and his “police” force and several security guards. Most were jailed and held on bail as high as $1 million. This resulted in some losing their homes and the breakup of some families, they claim.
One of the plaintiffs, John Cayanne, told the Fresno Bee: “It has been emotionally distressing; an absolute nightmare. This has caused divorces, losses of homes, affected clearances and employment capability. They hadn’t spoken with both sides before forming an opinion. The investigation was done in 72 hours but they had 600 hours of video available for review. If they had looked at that, the case wouldn’t have been filed in the first place.”
The McDonald faction says in court documents that it had run the tribe’s business, including the casino, for several months in 2014 before the Lewis group itself took over the casino in an early morning raid that August. The lawsuit alleges political motivations for the arrests and that the Sheriff improperly applied Public Law 280, which gives county law enforcement officials the authority to make arrests on tribal land in some cases.
The plaintiffs first tried their lawsuit in Madera County Superior Court, only to have the cases dismissed—leading to the federal filing last week. When the current and former officials are served paperwork, the Madera County Board of Supervisors will be asked to indemnify them as workers carrying out their jobs.
DA Linn told the Fresno Bee, I’m not going to comment on it in depth, but any litigation against my deputy district attorney or me will be over very quickly.”
Mark Coleman the defense attorney who defended them in 2015, told the Bee that the McDonald group and his deputized men had legal authority deriving from a tribal council resolution, and that they thought they were operating legally. All of the men involved had law enforcement backgrounds or military service, sometimes both. The criminal charges ruined their reputations, he said. “They were operating under the belief that they were lawfully deputized law enforcement officers.”
Coleman said, “Each one of these guys has just an impeccable background. I was going into court and meeting in jail with a Purple Heart recipient, a Silver Star recipient who fought as a Navy Seal.” Some of them had federal security clearances that are now in jeopardy.
John Oliveira, the former tribal police chief, says the Chukchansi episode always seems to come up when he tries to get new employment. He lost three contracts over it, he claims.
Cayanne, who unlike most of the others, did not take a plea bargain to settle his case, claims the law enforcement authorities did not properly investigate the cases. He told the Bee, “They hadn’t spoken with both sides before forming an opinion. The investigation was done in 72 hours, but they had 600 hours of video available for review. If they had looked at that, the case wouldn’t have been filed in the first place.”
In a separate but related development, the Madera County Board of Supervisors last week voted a resolution of thanks for $1.5 million in grants from the Chukchansi tribe, in the form of 33 grants issued for schools, fire, police, veterans, senior programs, etc.
The tribe will host an awards banquet to hand out the checks later in December.
