Latest news with #TribalPolice
CTV News
3 days ago
- General
- CTV News
Pride Month launches early in Elliot Lake, Manitoulin Island
Pride Month kicks off early in Elliot Lake and on Manitoulin Island. Elliot Lake's deputy mayor raised the flag alongside 2SLGBTQI+ community members while in Wikwemikong tribal police raised a Pride flag at their detachment and donned rainbow vests, with month-long activities planned in both communities.
CBC
23-05-2025
- CBC
Sixties Scoop survivor held in U.S. jail after attempted return to adoptive family
Social Sharing James Mast, a Cree Sixties Scoop survivor, says he was making his way to Oklahoma so he could care for his ailing adoptive father when tribal police on the U.S. side of the Akwesasne reservation arrested him and turned him over to U.S. Border Patrol. Mast, 60, has been held at the Clinton County jail in Plattsburgh, N.Y., which sits about 115 km southeast of Akwesasne, since his April 14 arrest by St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Police. He was detained after crossing the St. Lawrence River by boat and had no identification on him at the time. Mast has so far spent six weeks in custody while U.S. immigration authorities determine whether to deport him to Canada. "I want to get back home and I'm tired of this pressure that immigration and people put on saying that I am not American," said Mast, in a telephone interview with CBC News from jail. "I was raised in the States." Mast was initially charged with unlawful "re-entry by a deported alien," but the charge was dropped by the assistant U.S. attorney because Mast is Cree, said Gabrielle DiBella, his appointed federal public defender. "Being a Native American meant that he could not be prosecuted for illegally re-entering the country," said DiBella in an interview with CBC News. Under the 1794 Jay Treaty between the United States and Great Britain, a person with at least 50 per cent First Nations parentage may cross freely from Canada into the U.S. A First Nations person born in Canada can also legally live as a permanent resident with a green card in the U.S. if they register with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. "I've never had a Native American prosecuted for illegal re-entry," said DiBella. DiBella said they've requested Mast's adoption records from the government of Alberta which he was told could take four to six months to process and provide. CBC News contacted U.S. Customs and Border Protection who referred questions to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for comment. ICE did not respond to request for comment. Taken from family twice The Sixties Scoop was a period from the 1950s to the 1980s when thousands of Indigenous children were seized by provincial child-welfare agencies and adopted out to non-Indigenous families. Mast was born James Cardinal in 1964 to Mary, who was Cree, and Edward Cardinal, a Métis. They were trappers living around Fort McMurray, Alta. "My father was an alcoholic, so he'd take the pelts in and then leave my mom and us kids out on the trap line," said Mast, who has three biological siblings. Mast said when he was two-years old his mother fell ill and moved in with her sister, who called child welfare services. "Welfare came and picked us up and took us away," he said. He was bounced between foster homes and abused until Moses and Sadie Mast, a Mennonite couple, adopted him and took him to Spencer, Okla., when he was six years old, said James Mast. He said he reconnected with his biological mother when he was 16 after hitchhiking from Oklahoma City to Anzac, Alta. But he went back to Oklahoma, to his adoptive parents, who he considers his real family. "That's the only family I have," said Mast. While building hog farms in the mid-1990s in Missouri, Mast ran into trouble with the law, according to state court records. Mast said he was convicted of assaulting a police officer and served 17 years in prison. After his release and shortly after arriving back home to Oklahoma, U.S. immigration authorities swooped in to arrest him. He said he still remembers seeing his adoptive mother Sadie Mast weeping as they took him away. "I told her, don't worry, I'll be all right, I'll come back again one day," said Mast. "She passed away before I made it. It's just been an ongoing frustration. It made me angry." Mast was sent to immigration detention in Dallas and deported to Calgary in 2010, according to U.S. court records. His adoptive parents never made him a U.S. citizen and Mast said he didn't know how to fight the deportation. He said he stayed for about a day at the Calgary airport before heading to a city homeless shelter, the beginning of an itinerant life in Canada. He was in and out of jails and shelters, while compiling convictions for things like armed robbery, thefts and assaults. Mast said he ended up drifting to Hamilton and then to Cornwall, Ont., about six years ago where he found work as a mechanic. During his time in Cornwall, Mast said he met people from Akwesasne, the Haudenesaunee territory that sits across the St. Lawrence River from the small city. Mast said he crossed the river by boat on April 13, jumped out on the southern shore and hid out in a wooded area overnight. Family waits for him The next day, Mast said he was walking through the community, trying to figure out how to continue his journey to Oklahoma when he was stopped by tribal police who later reported to U.S. Border Patrol that he was intoxicated. "They lied, and that's what always gets me in trouble, that's why I get mad at the police, because they lie," said Mast. "How can they say I was intoxicated? They didn't take no breathalyzer…. As a matter of fact, I don't drink." He said they arrested him after he slammed his hand on the trunk of the police cruiser. "I said, 'There, now you can arrest me,'" said Mast during the telephone interview with CBC News. Mast said he just wants to get home and take care of his adoptive father. It still pains him that he wasn't there when his adoptive mother died. "I figure it's time to get back home and take care of him, like he took care of me when I was younger," he said. "He needs me there." Mast's father is in his late 80s, suffers from dementia and is currently in an assisted living care home, said Bonnie Bellah, James Mast's cousin. Bellah has taken over the primary caregiving role for Moses Mast. She said the family is aware that James Mast is in custody and would welcome his return. "We would all embrace him," said Bellah, in a telephone interview from Spencer, Okla. "We love him and we want the best for him. It's a hard situation, he is adopted, but he is family and family is very important."
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Yahoo
CIRCUIT COURT: No joinder for trio accused in River Run Apartments murder
GOSHEN — Elkhart County Circuit Court Judge Michael Christofeno denied a joinder request for a trio accused of murder in November. Police spent nearly a month investigating the shooting death of Toby Ray Fisher, 32, of South Bend, which ultimately led to murder charges for Sami F. Hussen, 38; Ashley N. Seabolt, 41; and Stephonn T. Sutton, 36. The trio had their initial hearings in Elkhart County Circuit Court Thursday. Elkhart police found Fisher covered in blood and not breathing in the 700 block of Monroe Street at River Run Apartments after a call for a shooting with injuries at 6:55 p.m. Nov. 26. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Using security footage from the apartment complex, police identified a woman in a dark coat with a fur hood and bag, walking toward Monroe Street, then abruptly stopping and running west. Minutes later, a man was seen carrying a bag with straps walking west on Marion Street. Following closely behind was Fisher, running the same path as an apparent blood trail found by first responders, and along which a cell phone was found. According to a probable cause affidavit, McKenna Rink told police she came across Fisher lying dead in the grass before law enforcement arrived, left, and came across her mother, Ashley N. Seabolt, walking on Aspenwald Road in Elkhart just a few blocks away. Seabolt allegedly told Rink that she'd picked up Fisher from Three Rivers, Michigan, along with a man later identified as Stephonn T. Sutton. She'd claimed, according to the probable cause affidavit, the plan was for them to rob another person. Seabolt and her boyfriend were dropped off in the 300 block of Meisner Avenue in Elkhart, the affidavit reads. At the Meisner Avenue property, police said they found five people in a shed in the backyard including Seabolt, who was arrested due to having a warrant. Scott Andrews reportedly told police that Seabolt had hidden a gun and she'd asked for help fixing a jam to the gun, which they found tucked between a shelf and wall next to where she'd been sitting when the shed door was opened. On Nov. 27, police said they obtained surveillance footage from the Rebel Gas Station on Toledo Road in Elkhart that confirmed a white Honda Accord Seabolt and Fisher had been driving was there, the affidavit reads. On Dec. 2, Tribal Police at Four Winds Casino, 3000 Prairie Ave., South Bend, said they found the Accord and the Elkhart County Homicide Unit detained Heidi Webber and Sami Hussen for questioning. Webber reportedly told police that Seabolt and Hussen had been trying to coordinate a drug deal for methamphetamine and fentanyl and on the day of the shooting, the affidavit reads. Webber and Hussen picked up Seabolt, Fisher and Sutton — although Webber didn't know Sutton and couldn't identify him in a photo lineup — and dropped Seabolt off at River Run Apartments, the court document reads. Webber claimed that Hussen then put some meth onto a scale and Fisher said, 'You know what time it is,' before grabbing the meth and striking Hussen with a handgun, holding the gun to Webber's head and robbing them, the affidavit reads. Webber said she heard gunshots and exited the vehicle but didn't see Sutton or Hussen with a gun, but Sutton also got out of the vehicle and took her purse with him, the affidavit reads. Webber and Hussen got back into the vehicle and left the area, the affidavit reads, and Hussen said he didn't know if he hit the guy or not and that Hussen did get rid of his gun. Webber claimed the shooting was self-defense, but Seabolt, Hussen and Sutton were charged with murder, the court document reads. A forensic search of Fisher's phone indicated a conversation between Fisher and Seabolt wherein Seabolt allegedly provided detailed instructions to Fisher on how to commit the robbery, the affidavit reads. Seabolt also spoke to detectives and, according to the affidavit, confirmed that she set up the drug deal between Fisher, Hussen and herself, picking up Fisher and Sutton from Three Rivers along with Hussen and Webber. Seabolt told police that she'd exited the vehicle to go into an apartment at River Run and get more money for drugs and when she was returning to the vehicle, she heard gunshots and ran from the area, the affidavit reads. Sutton told police he was with Fisher in Three Rivers, Michigan, when they were picked up and given a ride back to River Run Apartments due to Seabolt and Fishers having business with others in the car, the affidavit reads. Sutton claimed he went to a relative's apartment and then walked back to the vehicle where Fisher was still inside, but surveillance footage did not show Sutton walking to any apartment prior to the shooting, according to the affidavit. Alexus Legrand told police that she was at Toby's home on Roys Avenue with several people including Sutton on the day of the shooting and claimed the purse he was carrying — that Sutton claimed to be a satchel he'd brought with him — contained perfume, a Michael Kors wallet, both items Webber claimed to have in her purse, the affidavit reads. On Thursday, Sutton appeared in court as the first of the trio for a trial status conference and a joinder request. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Don Pitzer said since the state would be presenting the same evidence in all three cases, they should produce it only once, and argued that to his knowledge the defenses would not be mutually antagonistic. Sutton's defense attorney Bridgette Faulkner argued there actually were issues and the state would need to be careful if the joinder was confirmed. Christofeno, however, did not approve the joinder after Faulkner also explained that the charges are difficult and it would be confusing to a jury. Hussen is charged under 35-42-1-1(1), while Sutton and Seabolt are charged under IC 35-42-1-1(2), indicating they were committing another non-drug related crime during the interaction. Hussen's charge is only related to murder. Pitzer said they would amend the charging information. The attorneys couldn't agree so they denied motion to joinder and left the jury trial as May 5 despite Martinez scheduled on that date; Sutton would be second. Trial status conference is set for April 24. Hussen's case was continued to Aug. 4 with a trial status conference scheduled for July 3, like Seabolt's, and Seabolt's was already scheduled for July 3 but the state withdrew the joinder motion for both their cases. DONTE D. GREENE Former NBA player Donte Greene had his jury trial rescheduled from May 5 to July 7 during Elkhart County Circuit Court on Thursday. Greene is accused of a Level 5 felony charge of attempted robbery dating back to Nov. 8, 2023. Greene was arrested on charges of robbery, intimidation, and interfering in the reporting of a crime after officers were dispatched to Phillips 66, 1819 Lincolnway East, Goshen, at 12:36 a.m. to investigate a report. Officers were called to the area due to a report made by an employee of the attached Taco Bell of a drunk driver who had entered the building. Greene was not charged with any driving infractions. According to court documents, a clerk at the gas station stated to officers that Greene told him to 'give him all the money' before making threatening motions. When the cashier pulled out his phone to call 911, the charging affidavit reads, Greene told him not to. Surveillance footage reportedly confirms Greene allegedly talking with the clerk and then walking around the store, then taking items out of his pocket and taking his shirt off before reportedly lunging at the cashier. Police also said in the affidavit that Greene did not have a weapon, nor did he take anything from the store. Greene played college basketball for the Syracuse Orange before being selected in the 2008 NBA Draft for the Memphis Grizzlies, and later played for the Houston Rockets, Sacramento Kings, the Reno Bighorns, the Boston Celtics, the Brooklyn Nets, among others, and played for several teams located outside the United States as well during his time as a pro baller. His last known affiliation was with the Taichung Wagor Suns of T1 League of Taiwan, signing on Oct. 7, 2021, although he did not make the league's final rosters. ROBERT A.R. NORMAN A Bristol man is accused of setting fire to his former boss' work vehicles after being fired and refused pay. On Thursday, he was in Circuit Court to plead guilty. Robert A.R. Norman, 39, Bristol, is charged with arson at 19623 C.R. 8, Bristol, dating back to Aug. 20, 2024. He had a pre-trial conference and bond hearing during Thursday's Circuit Court. According to a probable cause affidavit, the victims reported to Elkhart County deputies that Norman had told them he was going to burn their house down earlier in the day or the day before. One of the victims told police that Norman had been working for him but was fired due to poor work performance and use of drugs while on the job, the affidavit reads. He also told Norman he would not be paid until he removed personal effects from the victim's backyard and alleged that Norman tried to start a physical fight with him. Police also noted that they had been called out on Aug. 19 for Norman threatening to set fires to the other victim's property, the affidavit reads. On Aug. 4, police said Norman had also set his own car on fire on their property, and later that week, he did doughnuts in the yard causing damage, the affidavit continues. At 3 a.m. Aug. 20, the first victim told police that a woman he didn't know rang his doorbell to inform him that his backyard was on fire. There he found his International 400 work truck and stump chipper on fire. According to the affidavit, Norman admitted to setting his own car on fire and doing doughnuts in the victim's yard earlier in the month, and said he was upset about not being paid correctly but denied setting the other vehicles on fire. Norman pleaded guilty to arson, a Level 4 felony, with other courts dismissed. Sentencing is scheduled for May 8. WAYNE R. BARHAM One of two men accused of burglarizing an Elkhart storage unit was in court for sentencing Thursday. Elkhart County deputies reported that on June 17, a man informed them that around $7,000 worth of items were stolen from his storage unit at Storage Rentals of America, 28874 C.R. 4, Elkhart. Using surveillance footage from Benders Handy Spot nearby, police found a suspect vehicle that had been parked nearby and two men got out of the vehicle and went to the storage units. Police identified the driver, Wayne R. Benham, carrying box cutters and noted he had removed the license plate from the vehicle. Using the footage, jail staff recognized a second suspect, Zackariah M. Al-Utaiby. The victim reported on June 18 Miracle Tire Werks, 312 N. Nappanee St., advised him someone was attempting to sell them tires stolen from the storage unit. When police arrived, Barham was present. Other tires and rims had been sold to Exit 92 RV & Auto Repair, 524 Oakland Ave., Elkhart, and Al-Utaiby was identified as the seller at that location, police stated in a probable cause affidavit. They were each charged separately with burglary, a Level 5 felony. Barham was sentenced on Thursday to burglary, a Level 5 felony, to six years at the Indiana Departments of Corrections with two of those years suspended on probation and two years at Elkhart County Community Corrections with a recommendation of Work Release. He was also sentenced in other unrelated cases. LASEAN T. GREEN A South Bend man accused of armed robbery stemming from a Facebook Marketplace deal had hopes to be sentenced in Elkhart County Circuit Court on Thursday but had to have his sentencing rescheduled. LaSean T. Green, 31, was originally charged with a Level 3 felony count of armed robbery after holding a man up and injuring him after a Facebook Marketplace sale went wrong. Police said the two had planned to meet at Cabin Coffee Co., 707 Lincolnway East, Goshen, Feb. 20, 2020. According to the charging affidavit, the victim intended to purchase two phones from Green, who after getting out of the car, demanded the money and pistol-whipped the victim while a second suspect helped him take the money. Green pleaded guilty to Count 1 armed robbery, a Level 3 felony, and Count 2 unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, a Level 4 felony. Green's attorney said he needed to submit letters of support that they received yesterday and had not yet had a chance to file or review. The court reset Green's sentencing hearing to May 8. JOSUE GARCIA MIRANDA One of two men accused of an armed robbery and armed kidnapping saw his jury trial continued on Thursday. The victim told police that he and Josue Garcia Miranda had been at his house on Burr Street for a bit but left together before. The victim said Garcia Miranda was acting erratic so he asked Garcia Miranda to drop him off at a gas station nearby, and Garcia Miranda said he could stop by later, instead pulling into his own house on Franklin Street, a probable cause affidavit reads. Garcia Miranda told him to go inside before him, which the victim said he found usual, since he had never actually been there before and didn't know anyone there, the affidavit reads. A man later identified through active warrant as Juan Ramirez Toscano told him to go upstairs and the three went upstairs together. The two men then asked the victim where the gun was, and the victim told them he didn't know what they were talking about, the court document reads. The two men then allegedly began beating him with a wooden stick and a gun, while the victim continued to tell them he didn't know what gun they were talking about, the affidavit reads. Ramirez Toscano, the victim said, told him to empty his pockets and the victim took out his wallet and gave it to them, and then they walked him downstairs, and sat him down, where more men, including a man named 'Dan,' continued to ask him where the gun was and he continued to tell them he didn't know, but this time mentioned he did know someone with a gun, according to the affidavit. The victim then said that Garcia Miranda and Ramirez Toscano told him to get into the car, that they were going to get that gun, and that they would shoot him if he tried to flee or get help, the affidavit reads. They reportedly walked him at gunpoint to the car. The victim reportedly told Garcia Miranda that the gun was at a friend's house on Moorhouse Avenue. When they arrived at the home, the victim's friend's grandma answered the door and the victim told her to call the police, the affidavit reads. She yelled something about a gun and the victim said it spooked the two men, who then left in the car and the victim got a ride from the friend's home to the ER to make the report, the affidavit reads. He identified the men through a lineup. Police found what appeared to be blood in the vehicle identified by the victim and owned by Garcia Miranda via search warrant. They also executed a search warrant on the home in the 700 block of Franklin Street, wherein officers say it appeared that a man named Daniel Davis took his own life during a standoff with SWAT. Detectives recovered a DVR during the search of the home, and said they found a recording with Garcia Miranda, Ramirez Toscano, and the victim, when the two entered the home, and later when they left and the victim was bloodied up and being escorted out presumably by gunpoint. Garcia Miranda was arrested following an attempt to visit the victim's home. Police arrested him at a nearby traffic stop. Garcia Miranda's trial was continued from May 5 to July 7.
