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Current, former Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe treasurers subpoenaed

By Tanner Stening
Posted Sep 4, 2019

Tribal Council votes to hire lawyers for both in federal grand jury probe.

MASHPEE — The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s chief financial officer and his predecessor have been subpoenaed in recent weeks, according to sources familiar with the matter and documentation provided to the Times.

Treasurer Gordon Harris and former Treasurer Robert Hendricks were issued subpoenas, prompting Tribal Council, the tribe’s executive decision-making body, to hire legal counsel for them, according to meeting minutes provided by council member Aaron Tobey Jr.

The minutes mention subpoenas without elaboration, and Tobey declined to discuss the nature of the court orders.

Another source, however, said the subpoenas were connected to a federal grand jury investigation. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Massachusetts said “we can neither confirm nor deny investigations” pertaining to the tribe.

Harris, council Secretary Ann Marie Askew, Vice Chairwoman Jessie “Little Doe” Baird and members Rita Pocknett Gonsalves, David Weeden and Yvonne Avant voted in favor of hiring legal counsel for Hendricks during a recent meeting, according to the minutes. Members Brian Weeden and Carlton Hendricks Jr. abstained, and Tobey was opposed.

Askew, Baird, Gonsalves, Tobey, Avant, David Weeden and Brian Weeden voted to approve legal counsel for Harris at a later meeting, according to the minutes. Carlton Hendricks Jr. opposed and Harris recused himself.

Tribal Council Chairman Cedric Cromwell votes only to break a tie.

Tobey said he voted to hire counsel for Harris and not Hendricks because Harris is a sitting official. Asked if he knew if anyone else currently or formerly in tribal government had been issued a subpoena, Tobey said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if there were.”

It is unclear if Harris or Hendricks have appeared in court in connection with the subpoenas. Robert Hendricks did not respond to questions about his court order, and Harris did not respond to a request for comment through a tribal spokeswoman.

Grand jury proceedings are largely secret. Roughly two dozen citizens serve as jurors, empowered to examine documents and hear testimony — usually presented only by government attorneys — to determine whether there is probable cause that someone committed a crime.

The legal probe comes amid growing political turmoil within tribal government in connection with a credibility crisis affecting the top leadership. Tribe members have tried to expel Cromwell, Baird and Harris for, among other reasons, the secrecy surrounding tribal finances, and the amount they receive in salaries. Several petitions that circulated within the tribal community earlier this year garnered enough signatures to set in motion a “recall” process — outlined in the tribe’s constitution — for Cromwell and Harris.

The tribe’s Election Committee certified 120 signatures on the petition to remove Harris and 104 signatures on a petition to remove Cromwell. The petition to remove Baird fell short of the 100 required.

The recall election is set for Sept. 15, according to the tribe’s website, although the notice does not mention Cromwell or Harris by name.

The tribe has paid Cromwell more than $1 million since he took office in 2009, that petition says. Since then, the tribe has incurred more than $500 million in debt with “very little to show for it; no casino, no jobs,” and a mortgaged property in Taunton, where the tribe’s $1 billion casino-resort would be located, according to the petition. The gaming project has been halted since a 2016 injunction granted as part of a lawsuit filed by neighbors of the project.

A robocall that circulated within the tribal community in June alleged that $250 million of the money handled by the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Gaming Authority is unaccounted for. The gaming authority is a five-member board governing the tribe’s long-stalled gaming operation. A 2016 financial audit of the tribe described the entity as a “discretely presented component of the tribe.” During that year, the authority transferred more than $17 million in cash and real estate to tribal operations.

“To date, we as tribal members do not know how this money is spent,” the robocall said. “Only Chairman Cromwell and Treasurer Gordon Harris have knowledge and access to how our $250 million has been spent.”

The Times could not confirm the source of the call.

In January, Cromwell was temporarily stripped of his fiduciary powers after news surfaced of the $37,000 he and his wife, Cheryl Frye-Cromwell, owe the IRS, and business interests that were subpoenaed during the course of their divorce proceeding. The Tribal Council has since reversed itself, voting to restore Cromwell’s fiduciary responsibilities and to rescind a vote of no confidence in his leadership.