WampaGate

Attorney General digging deep into tribal documents

What happened to the Museum money?
AG looks into snail's pace of work,
FBI questioning members

By Peter Kenney

Deep in the blue file in the building commissioner's office at Mashpee Town Hall is a copy of a bill. It is from the Town of Mashpee to the state Attorney General for $37.80. The bill is in the form of a letter dated Aug. 14, 2007, and refers to 189 pages of records copied by the building inspector's assistant and faxed to Boston. A notation at the top of the bill states, "Re: Copies - 414 Main Street and 410 Meetinghouse Road."

The Mashpee Wampanoag tribal museum is situated at 414 Main St. (Route 130) in Mashpee and 410 Meetinghouse Road is the address for the ancient Mashpee meetinghouse. Both buildings are being restored and both projects have been the subject of rumors in the tribe and the town for years.

Grant money for museum first diverted, then disappeared

On Feb. 18, 2000, a $14,850 check was drawn on the tribal council account at Fleet Bank and deposited the same day into the account of the Mashpee Fisherman's Association at Cape Cod Bank and Trust. A handwritten notation on the check clearly says, "Fisherman's/Kellogg Grant." Well-placed sources in the tribe tell this reporter that the money was intended for the restoration of the museum, but was diverted to the Fisherman's Fund and disappeared. Work on the museum, sporadic for seven years, is only now being completed.

Earlier this year Attorney General Martha Coakley's office contacted the Kellogg Foundation and has been investigating alleged improprieties, according to a foundation spokesperson who declined to elaborate. Coakley's office would not comment.


Winnie Hernandez Gallegos of Battle Creek, Mich., is a program officer working for the Kellogg Company. 

Her husband, Floyd Gallegos, is president of FEG Advisors.Winnie Hernandez Gallegos of Battle Creek, Mich., is a program officer working for the Kellogg Company, which is based in Battle Creek MI. Her husband, Floyd E. Gallegos, is president of FEG Advisors, a Battle Creek company providing management expertise to Indian tribes. During a telephone conversation Sunday, Mr. Gallegos said he introduced Herb Strather to the Mashpee tribe. At the time, Mr. Gallegos says, he was involved in efforts to support tribes across Michigan and he says he knows nothing of how Kellogg grants were used.

The foundation spokesperson, when asked about grant oversight, said that every grant is subject to review and a report is issued when the review is completed. Sources in the Mashpee tribe say they remember discussion within the tribal council that reports to the Kellogg Foundation were late.

Work on the meetinghouse has also been stalled in spite of substantial grant money from government and private sources. Mashpee residents will vote at special town meeting on Oct. 15 on whether to approve $325,000 of Community Preservation Act funds to finish work on the meetinghouse. The article is number 6 on the warrant.

Among the questions Amelia Bingham and her son Stephen Bingham and others are asking, questions which earned shunning for them and three other members of the tribe - what happened to the money set aside for repairs to the museum and meetinghouse? Allegations have been swirling around town that Kellogg Foundation money earmarked for the museum was actually used for repairs at Maushop Farm, a property owned by Strather, the Detroit gambling and real estate developer who charges the tribe $72,000 every year for use of one-third of the farm.

Now we know that state Attorney General Coakley is also curious about the glacial pace of work at the museum and the meetinghouse. In addition to her inquiry there are federal investigations by the FBI and IRS into former tribal chairman Glenn Marshall's questionable financial dealings. Information subpoenaed by federal authorities is due by Oct. 27.

The FBI and the U.S. Attorney's office in Boston declined comment, but a source revealed "they have been talking," a reference to current tribal council chairman Shawn Hendricks and council secretary Desire Hendricks Moreno, who are cousins. Members of the tribe tell this reporter that FBI agents have been in Mashpee this week speaking to members of the tribe - and police cars have been seen parked near Moreno's house on Route 130.