Thread: KS-Kaweah official testifies in chief's trial

Posted on Thu, Aug. 07, 2008e-mail print RSS reprint

Kaweah official testifies in chief's trial
BY RON SYLVESTER
The Wichita Eagle

The woman who served as secretary of state for the so-called Kaweah Indian Nation testified Wednesday that she heard the man she knew as "Chief" tell illegal immigrants a membership in his tribe would grant them U.S. citizenship.

Malcolm Webber is standing trial in Wichita this week on seven criminal charges, including harboring illegal immigrants and conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Federal prosecutors say Webber made more than $300,000 by selling memberships in the so-called Kaweah tribe to more than 10,000 illegal immigrants in about 15 states under the false pretense that it would grant them legal status in the country.

Webber's defense said he operated a legitimate tribe in good faith, believing that he could one day fulfill those promises, and he didn't seek to get rich off the memberships.

During Webber's trial Wednesday at the federal courthouse in Wichita, Debra Flynn said she met Webber nine years ago, just after she and her husband, Chuck, were married and joined a church on South Broadway where Webber served as pastor.

Chuck Flynn talked about his Indian heritage, and Webber mentioned he was the chief of an Indian tribe, Debra testified. He went by "Grand Chief Thunderbird IV."

The Kaweahs already had nearly 1,000 members, Flynn said, when Webber named her secretary of state. He "adopted" her into the tribe as the wife of an Indian, she said.

"It all made sense at the time," Flynn told Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Anderson.

Within a couple of years, Flynn noticed the tribe beginning to grow.

The Kaweah office in Wichita received stacks of mail containing applications for membership. Flynn said she saw checks accompanying the applications -- some blank.

People also applied, and paid, in person.

"The majority of them were Hispanic," Flynn testified. Not all spoke English.

The pastor of a Spanish-speaking church in Wichita testified earlier through an interpreter that his congregation had passed out Kaweah applications.

Flynn, who was given a plea deal in exchange for her testimony, said memberships increased when Carmen Zamora joined the office in the spring of 2007. Zamora, who also pleaded guilty this summer, spoke Spanish.

Webber told prospective members "it would help them get driver's licenses and Social Security cards," Flynn said. "I told them he shouldn't tell them falsehoods to get them to join the tribe."

On cross-examination, Flynn told lawyer Kurt Kerns that Webber also used to talk about buying 1,000 acres in Colorado to use as a reservation.

She also told Kerns that Webber fired several of his "chiefs" in other states because they were overcharging for memberships.

"He told us we were a sovereign nation," Flynn said, "and the federal government couldn't touch us."

The trial continues today before U.S. Senior District Judge Wesley Brown.

Reach Ron Sylvester at 316-268-6514 or rsylvester@wichitaeagle.com.
http://www.kansas.com/213/story/486183.html

This chief has pretty much done things the American way. Cheat whomever you can for the cash. After all it is done daily by the coyotes and illegal employers. Is this what our country has become?