DENVER – A resident of Wind River Indian Reservation, Wyo. got a sentencing break in the 10th Circuit Court Feb. 27 because of a recent Supreme Court decision, but lower court records revealed the collective problem of drug dealing by outsiders on reservation lands.
Derek Redstar Pappan, Northern Arapaho, was one of 43 people swept up by law enforcement in 2006 when they uncovered a Wyoming methamphetamine ring with ties to Mexico.
Before sentencing Pappan, the trial judge said some of those charged “are felons and some of them are not members of your tribal community, and yet you engaged in acts that put at risk the well-being of your tribal community and others in Fremont County and elsewhere in Wyoming.
“And because of your involvement in this criminal activity, you made it possible for these non-Native Americans to do business in areas perhaps where they might not have had an entry, and you’ve brought a lot of anguish towards other members,” the judge said, acknowledging Pappan’s own addiction was probably a factor.
Out-of-state residents charged in the drug bust were Jose Duran-Nevarez, Graciano Ojeda Jr. and Raquel Gonzalez, all of Bakersfield, Calif.; Antonia Duran-Nevarez, Richland, Wash.; Marco Diaz-Ramirez and Rafael Mayorquin-Ezpinoza, both of Denver, Colo. and Cayetano Gonzalez-Cisneros, of Wyoming and Mexico, according to an Internet edition of the Casper, Wyo. Star-Tribune.
In addition to firearms and drug distribution charges, Jose Duran-Nevarez and Ojeda were accused of money laundering and Duran-Nevarez was also charged with maintaining drug-involved premises and illegal re-entry into the U.S.
Sixteen Wind River Indian Reservation residents, including Pappan, were charged with drug-related offenses, most of them related to possession and intended distribution of methamphetamine.
Pappan pleaded guilty to firearm and drug charges and was sentenced as a career criminal based on his record, which included an earlier conviction for failure to return to his halfway house, termed a violent offense by the lower court.
Because the Supreme Court ruled Jan. 13 against using escape convictions to enhance penalties, the circuit court sent his case back to the lower court for re-sentencing.
Pappan contended that the district court judge “improperly considered (his) race and national origin and that of his presumed victims as an aggravating factor” and “essentially communicated that the district court viewed (him) as deserving of a harsher sentence than he would have deserved had he not been Northern Arapaho but engaged in precisely the same conduct – selling drugs on the Wind River reservation.”
The circuit court, however, declined his request for a different judge at his re-sentencing because “throughout the (initial) sentencing the judge treated Pappan as an individual, not a stereotype.”
Pappan told the court he had been placed in an adult detention facility at age 15 and essentially grew up in prison. He also said he was an untreated drug addict and had been exposed to domestic violence, alcohol abuse and drug use on the reservation.
At the time of Pappan’s arrest, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced that a two-year investigation preceded the massive drug bust, which led to 53 indictments and the seizure of more than 20 pounds of methamphetamine, 20 weapons and $100,000 in cash. The drug trafficking group had been distributing more than seven pounds of methamphetamine per month and had ties to Mexico, the DEA said.
On the Wind River Indian Reservation in a recent year, criminal charges for drug possession rose more than 300 percent and charges of assault, theft and child abuse showed large increases, according to the National Congress of American Indians, which sought White House intervention against reservation drug distribution.