Saturday, April 28, 2018

Tribal Member Charged With Embezzling From La Jolla Band


nbcsandiego.com Tribal Member Accused of Embezzling $68K From La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians

By R. Stickney

Published at 1:31 PM PDT on Apr 20, 2018 | Updated at 9:41 PM PDT on Apr 21, 2018

A member of the La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians and a former employee of the Tribal Council was arrested Thursday.

Destiny Nelson, 35, is a tribal member and a former employee of the council who allegedly used her position to embezzle approximately $68,000, according to investigators.

The sheriff's department began investigating this case in September 2017 after the tribal council contacted deputies to report suspicious financial transactions by an employee.

Nelson was booked into the Vista Detention Facility on charges of embezzlement, identity theft, forgery and grand theft, according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.

The La Jolla Indian Reservation is located off State Route 76 in the northeast area of San Diego County at the base of Palomar Mountain.

Friday, April 20, 2018

MULU'WETAM : The First People page 192 2005 Edition

Here are some images of Mulu'Wetam: The First People 2005 Edition page 192.  It speaks for itself.  Hopefully you can click to enlarge the images and zoom in if you are having a hard time seeing it.  You may need to download the images so you can zoom in.  The quality should be good enough to read.






Thursday, April 12, 2018

Attention True Agua Caliente Cupeno and Warner Ranch Evictees

Notice to all the True Agua Caliente Cupeno and Warner Ranch Evictees out there.  Robert Smith is trying to organize people at Pala to go to protest a hearing about Warner's Hot Springs development.



This is laughable since Robert Smith is Chairman of the Luisenos.  



Not only does Robert Smith claim to be the Chairman of the Luisenos but he also has a track record of harassing Agua Caliente Cupeno descendants.  He lead the charge on disenrolling 168 Agua Caliente Cupeno.  Later when Cupeno elders tried to hold a meeting they were punished and not allowed to ever vote or participate in meetings again.

Robert routinely orders Pala Security to harass Cupeno descendants.  Many family members who live off the reservation cannot visit their family members who live on the reservation without fear of reprisal.  Robert Smith takes action and fines Cupeno for just trying to visit their family and routinely threatens to take their per capita away.

Robert Smith destroys Cupeno land and refuses to pay what is rightfully owed.

Robert Smith has stolen the per cap of 168 Cupeno for the last 6 years.  Hundreds of millions of dollars stolen.  Robert Smith has altered the blood degrees of all the Cupeno trying to erase their memory.

Robert Smith now has the BIA changing Pala to Luiseno affiliation only.

Robert Smith and Theresa Nieto stole the Cupeno Children's Trust Funds.

Robert Smith and Leroy Miranda tried to play cute when they had opportunity to buy the Warner's Hot Springs Resort (Kupa).  Instead of just buying Kupa, the ancestral homeland of the Cupeno, he and Leroy tried to buy membership shares so they could drive the resort into bankruptcy which they did.  There they thought they would buy Kupa cheap but the judge refused to sell to them because of their actions.

It's a good thing the judge did that because Robert Smith hates the Cupenos.  This is because Robert Smith is from San Felipe while now claiming to be Luiseno.

This is a sick joke that Robert Smith is playing where he would dare to organize a group to "save Kupa" when he could have bought Warner's 4 times and each time he balked.  He routinely takes action to hurt Cupeno people with disenrollments, sanctions, fines, banishments, and evictions.

To all True Agua Caliente Cupeno and Warner Ranch Evictee Descedants please attend the meeting.  See the flyer below.  Do not let the Fake Cupeno Robert Smith continue to destroy our heritage!

And don't forget!  Robert Smith is the one who put that fence around the Cal Rossi Trust next to Kupa.  In the process he destroyed all sorts of Cupeno artifacts and violated the land.

Robert Smith is no friend of the Cupeno and should never be allowed to set foot at Kupa (aka Warner's Hot Springs/Agua Caliente) ever again let alone try to organize a protest?

What is Robert protesting?  There is nothing more that Robert Smith loves than seeing the destruction of Cupeno sacred sites.  Robert is probably secretly in favor of the developments and is just trying to shake the money tree of the owners.


Thursday, April 5, 2018

What Is The PBMI?

Indian History in the Pala Valley can get complicated.  There were Pala Luiseno living in the Pala area prior to The Agua Caliente Cupeno Removal of 1903.

After the Agua Caliente Cupeno Removal in May of 1903 a separate lawsuit against the San Felipe Indians worked its way through the courts.  In October of 1903 the San Felipe Indians were also moved to Pala.

As the allotment process began some other Indians not associated with either the Pala Luiseno, Warner Ranch Evictee Agua Caliente Cupeno, or the San Felipe Diegueno began to show up and got allotments..

There has always been tension between these groups particularly when it came to land use, allotments, and later on, membership.

The official name of Pala on the Federally Recognized list of Indian Tribes was Pala Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of the Pala Reservation.  That name got changed illegally to Pala Band of Mission Indians (PBMI).

So what is the PBMI?  Luiseno?  Cahuilla?  San Felipe?  Yaqui?  Cupeno?

What are the People at Pala now?  Is it just one group?  Have all the other tribes been terminated?