http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/05/05/american_indian_tribe
_called_bogus/

American Indian tribe called bogus

By Paul Foy
Associated Press Writer / May 5, 2008

SALT LAKE CITY—A federal judge ordered a $63,000 civil-fraud judgment
against four people who claim to be chiefs of an American Indian tribe in
eastern Utah.

The men, who got organized at an Arby's restaurant and claim to have
hundreds of tribal members, refuse to recognize U.S or state laws, have
issued their own drivers' licenses and filed countless lawsuits against
Utah authorities for ignoring their sovereignty.

In a decision Monday, following a trial last week, U.S. District Judge
Stephen P. Friot ordered the men to stop pretending to be Indians and pay
Uintah County damages. He called their tribe a "complete sham."

The group calls itself the Wampanoag Nation, borrowing from the name of two
federally recognized Massachusetts tribes.

Gayle Andrews, a spokeswoman for the Mashpee Wampanoags, said the Utah men
are obvious impostors. She said the tribe often deals with phony membership
claims. In the most feeble attempts to prove tribal affinity, others have
offered pictures of their grandmothers dressed as Indian princesses, she
said.

"A lot of white people are like, 'I'm Wampanoag,'" Andrews said. "But you
can't just Google yourself into membership. It's not doable."

Members of the Utah group have challenged traffic stops and other
encounters with authorities, filing a host of lawsuits and unenforceable
debt judgments that soured the credit rating of at least one sheriff's
deputy.

In one of its most audacious claims, the group recorded a $250 million debt
against Uintah County Attorney JoAnn Stringham with a state agency.

Uintah County turned one of the bogus lawsuits into counterclaims for
racketeering and fraud.

Friot said the four men and their organizations owe money to the county for
damages caused by excessive litigation.

"They started playing this game in 2003, but we've been dealing with these
guys for 25 years with their own sovereign city," said Ed Peterson, deputy
county attorney.

"First, we walked into the U.S. Attorney's Office on this case and they
said, 'Come on, these are a bunch of nuts.' But they wouldn't leave us
alone," said Peterson, who credited attorney Jesse Trentadue with deciding
to countersue for civil fraud.

The group's leader is Dale Stevens, 69, who lives without phone service in
an unincorporated part of Uintah County. He claims a 13-acre patch to be
sovereign. Efforts to reach Stevens were unsuccessful Monday.

"We're concerned about the judgment against the people of our tribe," said
Martin Campbell, a retired 56-year-old mechanic, who claims to be
law-enforcement minister for the Wampanoag Nation of Utah.

Campbell maintained he had some Indian blood but said none of the leaders
or members ever offered proof of Indian ancestry.

The group has been unsuccessful in getting federal recognition as a tribe,
he said.

Besides Stevens and Campbell, James W. Burbank and Thomas Smith are covered
by the judge's order. They all represented themselves at trial.

Friot is a federal judge in Oklahoma who traveled to Utah to hear the case
because federal judges here have been sued by Stevens.