Pubdate: Fri, 24 Jun 2005
Source: Daily Herald, The (Provo, UT)
Copyright: 2005 The Daily Herald
Contact:  http://www.newutah.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1480
Author: Nick Nelson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/spirit.htm (Spiritual or Sacramental)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/peyote  (Peyote)

MOONEYS ARRESTED FOR DISTRIBUTION, POSSESSION OF PEYOTE

Local medicine man James Warren "Flaming Eagle" Mooney was out walking his 
dog Thursday morning when agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement 
Administration approached him with an arrest warrant.

James Mooney and his wife, Linda, were arrested near their Spanish Fork 
home on 16 combined drug charges involving possession and distribution of 
peyote. Each of the charges carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Nicholas Stark, an Ogden man with ties to Oklevueha EarthWalks Native 
America Church, which the Mooneys founded in 1997, was also named in the 
federal indictment. In the indictment, which was filed June 15 but sealed 
until Thursday morning, Stark was charged for distribution and possession 
of peyote and for possession of coca leaves.

The Mooneys and Stark have an initial hearing in front of U.S. Magistrate 
Judge Sam Alba at the federal courthouse in Salt Lake City at 11 a.m. 
today. Linda Mooney was booked at Davis County Jail and James Mooney at 
Weber County Jail on Thursday evening to be held until the arraignment.

In June 2004, the Utah Supreme Court exonerated the Mooneys from more than 
a dozen felony drug charges the Utah County Attorney's Office had brought 
against them in November 2000. The landmark ruling stated that religious 
leaders like Mooney could not be prosecuted for distributing peyote to 
non-American Indians as part of a legitimate religious ceremony -- even if 
those leaders are not members of federally recognized American Indian tribe.

But the state court's ruling is not binding on courts or agencies, and 
federal courts have ruled in the past that the use of peyote, a 
hallucinogenic cactus and a Schedule I controlled substance, is illegal 
except in "bona fide" religious ceremonies by members of federally 
recognized tribes.

U.S. Attorney Paul Warner stated in a news release Thursday that the 
Mooneys and Stark, who do not claim membership in a federally recognized 
tribe, broke federal drug laws.

"We believe the Mooneys and Mr. Stark are not allowed to use peyote under 
federal law," he said. "Drug dealers engaged in the distribution of a 
controlled substance are going to be prosecuted."

Melodie Rydalch, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Salt Lake 
City, said the indictment also challenges James Mooney's status as American 
Indian and his tribal membership.

"The indictment alleges that he is not a Native American, not a member of a 
federally recognized tribe and therefore is not entitled under federal law 
to possess or distribute a controlled substance," she said. Rydalch said 
federal prosecutors would push to have the Mooneys jailed until the case is 
resolved because the couple is a risk to the community.

Kathryn Collard, a Salt Lake attorney who represented the Mooneys and 
Oklevueha EarthWalks in Utah courts, blasted the DEA and the U.S. 
Attorney's Office for what she described as a "witch hunt" against her 
former clients.

"I think it's the drug war run amok," she said. "I think they do it because 
they can. They have the power, they have the money, they have hundreds of 
attorneys and all kinds of people to do their bidding."

The Mooneys' current attorney, Randall Marshall, was out of town Thursday 
and did not return telephone calls.

David Hamblin, a friend of the Mooneys and a spiritual leader of Oklevueha 
EarthWalks, said Mooney was out walking his dog and speaking to Hamblin on 
a mobile phone Thursday morning when federal agents stopped Mooney.

"He was approached by DEA agents that told him to take his dog back home 
and that they were going to arrest him," Hamblin said. "I could hear their 
voices on the phone."

Justin Schoenrock, James Mooney's 26-year-old stepson who was at the 
Mooney's home Thursday, said the agents arrested Mooney just before 9 a.m.

He said his mother, Linda Mooney, called him from her workplace at about 
the same time and said she would come home shortly. Linda Mooney was 
arrested as she drove home from her workplace, Schoenrock said. He said the 
agents gave no explanation of the arrest.

"They didn't tell me anything," he said.

Schoenrock said the Mooney's younger children were out of state visiting 
family when their parents were arrested.

DEA agents visited the Mooneys' home and the office of a former bookkeeper 
for Oklevueha EarthWalks last week but did not serve any warrants.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom