New Mashpee Chair Charged With Theft from Museum

Police inward Plymouth, Mass. have charged the chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag federation of tribes inwards recounting to the theft of IV artifacts from a local museum, The Mashpee Enterprise reports.

Brian Weeden, 30, who is also the top dog of the tribe’s gaming commission, and another man, Phillip C. Hicks Jr, also 30, are alleged to taken deuce common rush mats and ii shako rugs from the Plimoth Patuxet Museums. The items were exhibited interior a traditional Mashpee vaulted hut, known as a wetu, and are worth around $10,000 inward total.

Weeden was elected inwards May 2021 with a promise to “restore integrity” to the tribe. That was after the federal bill of indictment of its previous chair, Cedric Cromwell, on charges of bribery and taxation evasion.

Cromwell’s Downfall

Cromwell was ultimately convicted of accepting bribes inward connective with the proposed $1 billion First Light gambling casino resort, which the federation of tribes has been trying to establish for years inward Taunton Mass.

In a memo to the US District Court for the District of Bay State Monday, US District Attorney Rachael Rollins argued that Cromwell should pay off regaining to the folk for the reputational impairment he had caused.

She cited “distrust in potentiality lenders for the [casino] project, impeding the Tribe’s power to obtain funding for economic development.”

Cromwell’s predecessor, John Herschel Glenn Jr. Marshall, was also supercharged with corruption. He served troika years inward prison house for embezzling $400,000 from the Mashpee.

A to a great extent redacted law story seen past the Enterprise reveals that the items reputedly taken by Weeden and Hicks have since been returned to the museum. The story does non list the specific charges against the pair.

Museum surety showed three individuals loading the artifacts onto a Chevrolet Traverse, which was traced to Weeden.

Hostility to Museum

The Mashpee chairman denied all knowledge of the incident to the Enterprise and has refused to respond to request for commentary from other media outlets.

Plimoth Patuxet is a popular “living history” museum featuring historical reenactors. They portray 17th century lifespan in Plymouth, the settlement founded past the Pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower and interacted with the Wampanoag people at the “first Thanksgiving.”

But some members of the folk hold complained the museum has non fulfilled its assure of being a “bi-cultural” go-ahead that as tells the story of both settlers and Indigenous people.

Critics also claim the museum has failed to decently charge for Native exhibits and is not hiring and retaining sufficiency tribal members.

Long Wait for First Light

The First Light Casino throw was halted inward 2016 amid effectual challenges. But it got a boost in December lowest twelvemonth when the Biden Administration reaffirmed the tribe’s sovereignty and compensate to reservation earth that includes the casino site.

Discussions held betwixt lawyers for the folk and the City of Taunton later that month suggested the send off would live endorse on cartroad and that Bahasa Kebangsaan gambling casino giant Genting would noneffervescent tender its financial backing.

But Weeden has offered no official declaration or clip line of products for its recommencement and appears to be cautious around the project.

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