Red Lake, Minnesota (AP)

Red Lake Tribal Chairman Floyd Jourdain Jr. angrily denied allegations that he thwarted investigations into drug activities on the northern Minnesota reservation, according to a published report.

The allegations by a former tribal law enforcement officer, reported during mid-February in the New York Times, are “ludicrous... character assassination and slander by a disgruntled former employee” trying to influence tribal elections in May, Jourdain told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis in a story published during February. Jourdain said he will seek another term as chairman.

Clifford Martell, a former police investigator at Red Lake, accused Jourdain of hampering investigations of relatives, friends and political associates, according to the Times report on burgeoning drug trafficking on American Indian reservations.

Martell said he was fired for clashing with tribal authorities over investigations.

Martell and two other former officers told the Times that their anti-drug activities also had been hindered by fellow cops and court officials.

“The statements by this ex-cop Martell are absolutely absurd,” Jourdain said. “I challenge anyone to come forward with any evidence they have that I hindered law enforcement in any way on this reservation. I’ve encouraged a more aggressive and effective police force. When I was elected (in 2004), I encouraged that.”

Martell was fired in July 2005 while he was a member of a joint task force involving the FBI, Red Lake and two other reservations, area sheriff’s offices and other agencies. Red Lake has since pulled out of the arrangement, with Jourdain maintaining that the tribe’s involvement threatened Red Lake’s sovereignty.

In an incident that led to his firing on the same day, Martell “was found to be enforcing state law” on the closed reservation, Jourdain said. Federal authorities have jurisdiction over felony crimes at Red Lake but state law does not apply.

“He was accompanying an FBI agent out of Bemidji attempting to execute a state court order” in a custody matter, the chairman said. “They were both out of their jurisdiction... It had absolutely nothing to do with drugs.”

Tribal attorneys are working on a new task force agreement that would not intrude on Red Lake’s sovereignty, he said.

“We want to deal with crime on the reservation,” Jourdain said. “It will require a certain amount of cooperation with other agencies and tribes, and we’re open to that. We don’t want to be an island left alone.”

The reservation’s main hindrance to fighting drugs is not official interference but lack of funding, Jourdain said.

Information from: Star Tribune

www.startribune.com