Bellicose Bumpkin

A not-so-brief note on the Marshall sentencing. I hope to blog in more detail about this later. If not – it is what it is.

Marshall was sentenced to 41 months in prison followed by around 3 years probation, and more than $450K in fines. This article from the Cape Cod Times reports that the reduction could be as much as 15% with good behavior. So that would bring it down closer to 3 years.

Myself, John, and Rich showed up for the sentencing. Bill Marzelli was also there presumably in support of Glenn Marshall – I know they developed a friendship after the casino follies of ’07. I’ll give Bill some props for standing by his friend during what is certainly not his finest hour.

The courtroom was packed mostly with people who were not supporting Marshall.

First a brief history.

The first hearing was postponed because Marshall had lost his lawyer. His new lawyer(Markham) was on the phone and talked extensively about his innards and their growths. The second hearing was all about the plea bargain. The judge questioned Marshall extensively about the plea agreement and all the details of it – to make sure that he fully understood what he was agreeing to.

Unsophisticated … sorta like Middleboro?
Yesterday was rather funny, and sad. Marshall’s lawyer started squawking about the amounts of money stolen as specified in the plea agreement – you know that one that Marshall was questioned on in open court, signed, and swore under oath to. Markham tried to say that both Marshall’s first lawyer, and himself, had messed up by not questioning the numbers, and that Glenn was too “unsophisticated” to understand what he had signed. The judge was fairly incredulous – the time to argue these details had passed long ago. For a while it looked like they were going to try to .. I don’t know what .. have more hearings or challenge it in some way. The prosecutor said basically (paraphrasing): “I’m not sure that council and the defendant understand that challenging the contents of the plea agreement (signed and testified on) could bring up obstruction of justice and perjury charges.”.

After a sidebar, things came back to earth. Sort of.

Markham made one more weak attempt to say that the amounts were wrong and that Marshall shouldn’t get the sentences already agreed upon in the plea agreement. The prosecutor ran through Marshall’s flagrant disregard the law as evidenced by the many and varied charges against him. Around this time, Marshall’s lawyer was still clinging to that “Marshall is a simpleton and didn’t understand” argument. Marshall spoke and said something like “It all happened so fast, I didn’t know what was going on”. At this point the prosecutor said something like “Marshall said he didn’t understand something and left that hanging out there. What did he not understand?”.

The judge was the same woman who questioned Marshall so intently about the charges and his understanding of them during the plea agreement hearing. For the next five minutes, she questioned Glenn (can I call him that?) about what he didn’t understand – it went something like this.

Judge – Did you meet with the FBI and prosecutor?

Glenn – Yes. Several times. In fact more than several

Judge – Did you understand the meetings and discussions of the charges.

Glenn – Yes your honor. BTW – the groceries I bought with the stolen money went to tribal members. Except for those 25 cases of Ho-Ho’s, Suzy Q’s, Ding Dongs, and Twinkies. Mmmmm,,,, Ding Dongs …..

Judge – Uhhh…. OK. At the last hearing when I questioned you for 30 minutes about your understanding of the charges and plea agreement, did you understand it.

Glenn – Yes your honor.

Judge – Since then have you discussed the plea agreement with your lawyer and did you understand it.

Glenn – Yes your honor.

Judge – So ….. OK ….. Umm…. is there anything you don’t understand?

Glenn – No, your honor.

Judge – WTF. Alrighty then.

Glenn’s lawyer – Hey – he only stole from the investors. That makes it sort of OK. Have I mentioned my polyps recently?

Judge (sound of crickets chirping)

Me (silently thinks, yeah but the tribe has to pay it back and .. ewwww!)

Glenn’s lawyer – The numbers in this agreement are too high. It was signed by his last lawyer so we’re not bound by it.

Judge – WTF law school did you go to … Fred University? The agreement is between Marshall and the Court. Do you see this thing in the first paragraph that says “The agreement is between Marshall and the Court”?

Glenn’s lawyer – Umm,,, he’s unsophisticated.

Judge – Waiting for your point …..

Glenn’s lawyer – Errr… he was controlled by fast talking investors.

Judge – Still waiting …..

Glenn’s lawyer – It’s all the fault of the Cape Cod Times.

Judge – (fingers tapping)

Glenn’s lawyer – Nobody outside of the Cape would know anything about this if it wasn’t about casinos.

Judge – (laser beams shoot out of eyes incinerating the lawyer)

Judge – OK then, we’ll go with the sentencing we all agreed to six months go. See ya – bye.

Afterwards, I spoke to Amelia. She was pleased but also said that Marshall didn’t get near enough time. She joked about us all being there (again). I told her we would all have a cookout outside the federal prison when Marshall reports there on June 8th. She told me that about the land case being thrown out and that she has historical data up the ying-yang to prove that she is a descendant of the people who had the original treaties. She also said something about having documentation showing that the tribe was under federal auspices of some sort prior to 1934. I may ask her more about that later. Amelia asked for Jacquie and said she hadn’t heard from her recently. She mentioned the Bond resignation saying something like “What did you do to that man?”.. or some such. Quite funny. I joked about the the hard time we’ve given the BOS over bringing her and all her evidence right to them and having them ignore it. Casinos come and go but video lives forever.

Side note: The last time I spoke with Amelia was right after the last tribal elections. She was adamant that the new council was the same old bad actors as the old one. She hasn’t been wrong yet. We’ll see.

It was a fascinating day and kind of momentous. Throughout this whole nightmare, you tend to remember the big days. The first CFO meeting, Marshall @ the Nichols School, the Healey agreement meeting, and so on. This was one of those.

Interesting retrospective of the disgraced former chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribal council – Glenn Marshall.

Marshall – the face of the Middleboro casino faces sentencing this week.

I’ve heard much of the information in this article before, but this bit of information had a high ick factor:

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In 1980, their daughter Alycia, was born. Only months after her birth in March, Marshall committed the rape for which he was found guilty the following year.

That summer, Marshall offered to drive a 22-year-old Illinois woman who was visiting the Cape to her sister’s house from a party in Barnstable and instead drove her to a secluded spot in West Barnstable, where he raped her.

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About three weeks ago, several of us went in to see the Marshall hearing. As it turned out, it was postponed until Feb. 11th due to issues with his legal counsel.

Again several of us went in to attend the hearing. Short version: Marshall pleaded guilty to all and agreed with the terms outlined in the plea agreement. This of course means he is going to tell all. It was quite powerful to hear Marshall say, in his own words, that he had knowingly committed fraud by reimbursing friends and tribal council member for making contributions to officials that could help with their recognition. Marshall is giving up his close friends and will do the same to anyone else that is even peripherally involved.

Marshall was questioned extensively by the judge to make sure he understood the charges and had to say in his own words what he did.

Amelia came in a little late but didn’t miss much. After the hearing was over, Marshall had to go talk to some court person to dot the i’s about his status. Amelia came over to me(still in the courtroom) and said that they didn’t charge Marshall with even half of the stuff she had supporting documents for. Just about then, Marshall walked by and ignored us both.

We followed him out of the courtroom. As him and his supporters were leaving, some words were exchanged between Marshall’s group and the other Mashpee that were there and he was heckled by some of the tribal members as he left.

Right after that, I saw Stephen Bingham and went over to him. He also complained that Marshall wasn’t charged with near enough. I asked him what he thought of the elections. He said that it was terrible – the same old crooked bunch with different names. He said that he and Amelia had refused to vote because they didn’t want to legitimize the election. He indicated that there will be a special election to oust some or all of the tribal council. He didn’t think the press was interested in reporting on this aspect at which point I asked if he minded if I blogged about it.

Another tribal member told me that they didn’t even want a casino, at least not until they got their house in order.

Hearing Marshall admit to all the fraud and illegality of his actions really put things in focus. The Middleboro casino process and IGA stink to high heaven – it’s amazing that there are still a lot of people who seem to support it unconditionally.

Amazing.

Myself, Rich, Greg, and John went to the Marshall hearing yesterday(Jan. 21). We drove in and parked next to the Moakley courthouse and grabbed a quick lunch – which include the clams casino in the photograph. We headed to the courthouse about an hour before the hearing. Upon entering, you had to check your cell phones and go through a metal detector. The building is huge and is pretty striking. We immediately went up to the third floor to the court room. When we arrived, there were a handful of people and as I approached I immediately recognized Stephen Bingham from seeing his picture in the papers.

Soon after I saw Amelia Bingham seated on a bench. I immediately approached her and introduced myself. I had met Ms. Bingham during Casino Summer ’07 at President Jacquie’s house. I congratulated her on the unshunning and she brought me over to meet Stephen. I congratulated him as well and told him that he must feel vindicated. He seemed very soft-spoken and friendly. There were a number of reporters present – Stephanie Vosk and George Brennan from the Cape Cod Times, Alice Elwell from the Enterprise, a reporter from the Mashpee Enterprise(didn’t catch his name), and Sean Murphy from the Globe. I had never met Mr. Murphy before though I’ve spoken to him several times by phone.

We were wondering if Glenn would be brought in through a separate entry when he walked in with about five people. By this time there were probably 20 Marshall opponents – for lack of a better term – with the vast majority being Mashpee Wampanoag. Marshall stayed down the end and stood against a curved railing that overlooked a cafe three stories below. My and my friends stood on the same railing probably 50 feet away. The curve of the railing gave me a direct line of sight to Marshall. Maybe it was my imagination but he seemed to be glaring at us. He looked like a bully. Amelia, Stephen, and the other shunned members clearly enjoy a lot of support from the average tribal member.

After a few minutes we were allowed into the courtroom and I over heard one of the tribe tell someone that Marshall’s wife had cussed him out. He was laughing about it. I’m not accustomed to these sorts of things and I found the atmosphere to be electric, almost festive. Inside the courtroom, the judge was clearly surprised by the number of people and had one of the clerks turn on the speakers. Marshall had no attorney with him and the judge called a Mr. Markham who was in discussions about becoming Marshall’s attorney. It sounded to me like Marshall had a lack of money. All the goings on can be read in this Cape Cod Times article. It all seemed very irregular and disorganized with the end result being that the hearing was postponed for Marshall to get his lawyer ducks in a row.

After the hearing, Ms. Bingham approached me and we chatted briefly. She told me that she thought the agreement should be scrapped, and I couldn’t agree more. She asked me some questions about some of the local Middleboro actors – she clearly things there are investor connections in town. Finally everyone left and we went out for a light dinner in South Station.

While we didn’t get the outcome we were looking for, it was actually a fun day.

When I look at the day, a couple of things stand out. Marshall was alone other then a few family members. His supporters were outnumbered by opponents by about 4 to 1. I was very much left with the impression that he is in financial hardship. This is how it goes with the casino investors. They used Glenn for their purposes and discarded him when he brought no more value to the party. The same will happen to Middleboro. The investors will get what they want out of us, and then leave us holding the bag. All the more reason why Middleboro needs to look out for it’s own interests.

Today at 3:00 P.M., Glenn Marshall will face the music:

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It’s a skill Graham honed as an advance man for Hillary Clinton when she was first lady. But his shadowy role is coming into the spotlight as former tribe chairman Glenn Marshall prepares to plead guilty Wednesday to federal corruption and fraud charges. In exchange for recommending a lesser sentence, Marshall has agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors.

Marshall won’t be sentenced on Wednesday, his attorney Robert Craven said. After the guilty plea is entered, there’s time set aside for a pre-sentence report, interviews, letters, background checks and arguments, Craven said. Sentencing won’t be for a couple of months.

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Now I’m no legal eagle, but I suspect that “interviews” does not mean consideration for the night manager job at the Mashpee IHOP. After today, Marshall will be signed, sealed, and will deliver any information that is asked of him.

Those implicated by Glenn will do the same, as will those in subsequent tiers of involvement.

I would hope that all the big fish get fried but that there is no serious wrongdoing by Middleboro folk. What I want however is irrelevant. What’s done is done and it will be exposed.

Yet another great article from the Cape Cod Times on the Marshall scandal and the Middleboro casino issue.

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In a letter to tribe members dated earlier this week, Mashpee Wampanoag tribal chairman Shawn Hendricks blames internal politics and the media for potentially hurting the tribe’s bid for an Indian casino.

In his only comments since Glenn Marshall, 59, admitted to federal corruption and fraud charges earlier this week, Hendricks wrote that the tribe is being hurt by “circumstances beyond our control” and “instigated by our own people, who have a lot of personal grudges.”

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“Circumstances beyond our control”? Gimme a break. “Personal grudges”? Hogwash. Where is the outrage and condemnation of Marshall’s actions. What about the call for anyone involved to step down now? This is leadership?

Part of the decision to place land into trust hinges on a Tribe’s ability to govern themselves. I would argue that blaming others for the actions of the Tribal Council shows a lack of self-governance. So what is the message? – That if you know of wrong-doing and the Tribal Council won’t address it then you should keep quiet about it? This is the sort of government that we want to give a $1B casino to?

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In an e-mail to tribal council members and department heads, Tobey noted that court records indicate Marshall did not act alone.

“I am looking for anyone who is involved to step up and do the right thing, to do the moral thing,” he said.

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We’ve all seen the list of people who contributed money to political candidates Shawn. Marshall is going to give you all up – you know that don’t you? There is still a pile of housecleaning to be done – Aaron is totally right. Somehow I think history will repeat itself and the Tribal Council and other implicated members will throw the rest of the Tribe under the bus in the hopes of saving themselves.

Then they can do what Shawn seems to be doing – blaming Amelia Bingham.

By the way Shawn. Amelia is shunned and admitted lying rapist and criminal Glenn Marshall is not.

That shows some fantastic self-governance Mr. Hendricks. Nice job …. for us anti-casino types that is.

I think this video speaks for itself.

It is a conversation from the Middleboro BOS meeting of 12/15/2008 about the indictment and plea agreement of Glenn Marshall, casino booster and disgraced former Chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council.

I’m a bit dismayed that a number of the BOS hadn’t read the plea agreement, and I’d be willing to bet still haven’t some three days later. It’s common knowledge that Chairman Bond and I are working with a group of people to pass CPA. That disclosure made, I think the rest of the board needs to step it up a notch and take some decisive action on this development.

THIS IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO MOVE THE DEAL TO WHERE IT SHOULD BE – $25 TO $30M

One false move – In for life
If you’re read the plea bargain agreement and applied a little common sense you probably came to the same conclusion I did.

As a convicted felon, Marshall is looking at some pretty serious prison time – something like thirty years. If he fails to cooperate in even the slightest way, that is the reality for him. His plea agreement basically says that he will tell EVERYTHING he knows. If he doesn’t he will spend the rest of his life in prison.

The way these federal investigations go, the first person to cooperate wins. Marshall will only do a few years if he cooperates. If there was anything illegal that happened in Middleboro it will be exposed. Anyone local who was involved will go down and the people who cooperate will get off lightly.

Will the Feds look at Middleboro – of course
We’ve all heard the stories about the land sale, local officials and residents being offered casino jobs, unions pressuring their members to vote in favor. If the feds have a mind to look at this stuff, we will soon know if they are just stories or real events. I for one think that very few people in Middleboro have done anything illegal but given all the money involved, Marshall’s involvement, and all the lobbyists and law firms involved, I would have to believe that the Feds are going to look at Middleboro very closely.

My preference would be that Middleboro people are fully investigated and come up clean so that the town can drop all the innuendo and rumor, deal with the truth – whatever that is – and move on.

Don’t forget the PC factor
There is also the politics of the Federal investigations – the more convictions, the better it looks on your Federal resume. There is also the political correctness factor – the Feds don’t won’t to be seen on singling out Indians. They want plenty of company for Sean Hendricks and the rest of the Tribal Council – who I expect are all a bit nervous right now.

So if you’ve done something wrong ….. they’re coming.

Here are some documents related to the indictment of former Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Chairman Glenn Marshall who came to Middleboro to sell us all a casino. promise us the moon, and call us racists.

The indictment – must see TV

The plea agreement. Good reading that basically says, “If you don’t tell us everything, we are going to go medieval on your hiney.

A press release announcing the indictment.

I hate to say I told you so
The Cape Cod Times reports that Marshall admits embezzlement and fraud. Don’t start reserving your rooms at the Mashpee Wampanoag casino in Middleborough just yet.

I cannot see how this land can be taken into trust. Marshall has brought a stink of corruption to the land, the town of Middleborough, and entire Tribe tainting even their federal recognition.

The real story here is the plea agreement. Marshall has agreed to tell all and I for one can’t wait to hear what he has to say. One thing you can say for Glenn Marshall, he was probably doing what he thought was best for the tribe. I don’t have any particular desire to see him crucified. I’m much more interested in public officials that betrayed their public trust by having shaky dealings with Marshall, the lobbyists, investors, or anyone else who did anything illegal, immoral, or unethical for personal gain.

What exactly will it take for the tribe to RESCIND THE SHUNNING OF AMELIA BINGHAM and others?

Here are some quotes from the article.

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Former Mashpee Wampanoag tribal council Chairman Glenn Marshall has admitted to making illegal campaign contributions to members of Congress on behalf of the tribe, embezzling funds from the tribe, filing false tax returns for himself and the tribe, and fraudulently receiving Social Security Disability benefits, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

He signed a plea agreement on Thursday, and charges were officially brought by the U.S. Attorney today.
Related Stories

Federal investigators from the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigations found that from 2003 to 2007, a company run by Detroit real estate investor Herb Strather paid approximately $4 million into what is known as the “fisherman’s fund,” which Marshall “willfully omitted” from the tribal council’s federal tax returns.

Marshall used most of that money to pay for legal, lobbying and public relations expenses in connection with the tribe’s federal recognition efforts, including to hire disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who has since been indicted on and pled guilty to a slew of corruption charges involving Indian tribes.

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The Cape Cod Times has an interesting article titled “Disgraced leader remains active in Mashpee tribe”. The article is an update on Glenn Marshall and the Tribe one year after he stepped down as tribal chairman due to his rape conviction and lies over his military and police service. There are several things that bother me about this article.

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Two weeks ago, Glenn Marshall stood in the shadows at a party in Middleboro, where Mashpee Wampanoag tribe members and Middleboro casino supporters were celebrating a “Gathering of Communities” held earlier that day.

“He has a right to go to all the meetings and the Powwow. That’s not right,” said Amelia Bingham, one of four tribe members shunned by the tribal council under Marshall’s watch. Bingham, her son, Steven, Stephanie Tobey-Roderick and Michelle Fernandes unsuccessfully sued the tribal council seeking financial records and were punished for the effort. The shunning bars the four tribe members from attending meetings and participating in tribe activities for seven years.

“All I asked was what he was doing with the money. Where’s the justice?” Bingham said.

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That Marshall is still involved with the tribe doesn’t bother me that much. What concerns me is this “Gathering of Communities” event. It’s clear that as far as the Wampanoag and Middleboro leadership are concerned, the Middleboro “community” only consists of people who support the casino. This exclusinary pro-casino prom is the sort of divisive activity that led to much of the animosity of last summer.

The other thing about this article that raised my hackles is the fact that Amelia Bingham is still shunned while Glenn Marshall is playing wallflower at the pro-casino cotillion. Looks like the Mashpee have the same policy going on – you’re either pro-casino or shunned.

This sort of artificial division is the kind of thing that keeps Middleboro from moving forward. When we continue to stick to our own circles, we are maintaining the status quo. It reminds me of a recently formed local community group whose officers are entirely pro-casino activists.

The battle lines formed by the casino issue are alive and well with no end in sight.