WampaGate

No relief from the heat with Shady Glenn

Looking for love in all the wrong places
Marshall used Tribe funds to search for sex in Fall River

By Peter Kenney

Disgraced Wampanoag tribal council chairman Glenn Marshall has been doing some very peculiar things with tribal funds since at least January 2001. In January of 2001 and again in March and November he used tribal funds from the council's business account to subscribe to Friendfinder. Logging on to FriendFinder.com on the web today brought up a colorful page which said "Meet people looking for sex in Fall River."

Bought medals too

Also in January of 2001, funds from the tribal council's business account were used to make two payments totalling $249.95 to a South Carolina company selling replacement military decorations. One week later, the same account paid for valet parking at the Providence, Rhode Island airport and two Southwest Airlines tickets and $619.33 in charges at a Marriott Hotel in Washington, D.C.

All these facts may be coincidence, or they could spell further trouble for Marshall. If it can be proven that Marshall ever wore his unearned decorations in public, for example at an Indian veterans' ceremony in front of the Vietnam War Memorial, the Wall, in Washington, the federal criminal charges he would face are more serious than those he may already be facing. Sources within the veterans network that tracks down imposters report that the Marshall situation has already been referred to the FBI.

His conduct rumored for years, ignored for same period by press

Questions of how Marshall may have been abusing tribal funds have been circulating for years. It is known that before Marshall appeared on the scene in Mashpee as a Wampanaog he was a prominent presence in Portuguese circles in Falmouth. He operated a shellfishing business that was going broke and his house was in foreclosure with various liens placed against it.

Debts disappear, mortgage paid, Cadillac Escalade driven 

Shortly after his rise within the Wampanoag tribal council, his debts disappeared and all was well. Now Marshall, whose only known source of income is the checks he writes to himself on various tribal accounts, drives a Cadillac Escalade. The $93,750.00 mortgage on his Falmouth residence, the residence that had been in foreclosure, was discharged on October 9, 2003.

For years tribal elder Amelia Bingham has been telling everyone in the Wampanoag tribe who would listen that she felt Marshall was not acting in the best interests of the tribe. She and her son Steven have objected for some time to the mysterious influence of Herb Strather (on right), a gambling developer and self-proclaimed philanthropist from Detroit.  Strather claims to have provided fifteen million dollars to fund the tribe's successful efforts to gain federal recognition.

Is Strather a front for two South African billionaires? 

Bingham  now believes that Strather was actually a front  for the two billionaire South African gambling and real estate developers who have recently appeared as the major investors in the Wampanoag's gambling future. Bingham brought suit earlier this year in Barnstable Superior Court to force disclosure of the tribe's finances, but when Marshall provided her only an audited financial statement she returned to court for an order of compliance. Immediately after the court dismissed her motion and her suit Marshall shunned her and four other tribe members for seven years, effectively barring them from all tribal functions and property as well as the tribal benefits now available after recognition. One of Marshall's close friends within the tribe recently stated that another member known to be a Marshall opponent, Paula Peters, is "...getting ready to be thrown out of the tribe."

Marshall gets rid of dissent

Bingham and her children were made to leave the tribe's property in Mashpee when they entered to attend the tribe's annual Powow in July.  Marshall called local police to compel the shunned Wampanoags to leave.

Bingham has been relentless in her research into Glenn Marshall's reign and methods. She claims that Marshall and his cohorts have rigged tribal finances so that what actually happens is not easy to determine. According to her, funds are diverted from the tribal council's books to another Massachusetts not-for-profit corporation, Mashpee Indian Fisherman Foundation, Inc.  She says that grant funds received by the tribe for various specific purposes have been diverted to other uses, such as the purchase by the tribe of the formerly private Maushop Stables business and farm property in Mashpee.

More fraud charged 

This, she declares, is fraud and an abuse of the grants intended for educational purposes, such as the repair and renovation of the tribe's museum property on Route 130 in Mashpee. Bingham says that Glenn Marshall was granted a $50,000 contract to serve as the contractor for the project but that nothing was ever done. The museum remains closed. There is also the matter of the historic Old Mashpee Indian Church/Meetinghouse. A major renovation was begun years ago but has been stalled for at least three years with work left incomplete due to lack of funds.

While Barnstable Superior Court apparently believes that Federal recognition establishes tribal sovereignty and thereby removes the tribe from the reaches of Massachusetts courts,  Bingham is quick to point out that federal courts still have jurisdiction and that the grant funds, being from both the state and the federal government, are subject to oversight from the granting agencies.  She also points out that the tribe still files tax returns and is a Massachusetts corporation with its non-profit status approved by the Internal Revenue Service.

Tribe's missing BB court may be in Marshall's backyard

"That Shawn Hendricks is just as bad as Glenn." Another example of odd financial dealings is the grant the tribe received to build a basketball court on the grounds of council headquarters. None was ever built there. But, a basketball court was built behind the huge addition a tribal council member built at his personal residence. The man is a bouncer at a local strip club.  Perhaps there is substance to Bingham's curiosity about truck loads of lumber paid for with tribal funds but never delivered to tribal property. When asked if by stepping aside from his position as head of the tribal council Glenn Marshall has helped the tribe regain its honorable image she laughs and says, "That Shawn Hendricks is just as bad as Glenn." Hendricks was named by Marshall to assume the leadership of the tribal council until Marshall is able to resume the post; he says he will be back.

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