2 artists charged with faking Native American heritage

SEATTLE – Two artists are facing national charges that they faked Native American practice to merchantability works astatine downtown Seattle galleries.

Lewis Anthony Rath, 52, of Maple Falls, and Jerry Chris Van Dyke, 67, besides known arsenic Jerry Witten, of Seattle, person been charged separately with violating the Indian Arts and Crafts Act, which prohibits misrepresentation successful selling American Indian oregon Alaska Native arts and crafts.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Rath falsely claimed to beryllium a subordinate of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, and Van Dyke falsely claimed rank successful the Nez Perce Tribe. The goods included masks, totem poles and pendants sold successful 2019 astatine Raven’s Nest Treasure successful Pike Place Market and astatine Ye Olde Curiosity Shop connected the waterfront.

“By flooding the marketplace with counterfeit Native American creation and craftwork, these crimes cheat the consumer, undermine the economical livelihood of Native American artists, and impair Indian culture," Edward Grace, adjunct manager of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement, said successful a quality release.

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Rath and Van Dyke were owed to look successful U.S. District Court connected Friday afternoon. Their attorneys, national nationalist defenders Gregory Geist and Vanessa Pai-Thompson, said successful an email Friday they did not person immoderate contiguous remark connected the charges.

Authorities said the probe began erstwhile the Indian Arts and Crafts Board, an Interior Department bureau that promotes Native art, received complaints that the 2 were fraudulently holding themselves retired arsenic enrolled tribal members.

Rath is charged with 4 counts of misrepresentation of Indian-produced goods, which is punishable by up to 5 years successful prison. Van Dyke faces 2 counts of the aforesaid crime.

Rath besides faces 1 misdemeanor number of unlawfully possessing aureate eagle parts, and 1 of unlawfully possessing migratory vertebrate parts.

According to charging documents, an worker of Ye Olde Curiosity Shop, which has been successful concern for much than a century, told investigators that she wrote an creator biography of Rath based connected accusation helium provided astir his tribal affiliation.

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Matthew Steinbrueck, the proprietor of Raven's Nest Treasure, told investigators that the artists told him they were tribal members and that helium believed them, according to the documents. He said helium did not knowingly merchantability counterfeit Indian products.

“I've been doing this connected bully religion for galore years — for much than 30 years,” Steinbrueck told The Associated Press connected Friday. “Our full ngo is to correspond authentic Native art. We've had much than 100 authentic Native artists. I've ever conscionable taken their connection for it.”

He said his household had a agelong appreciation for American Indian culture, dating to erstwhile his great-grandfather adopted a tribal member. Steinbrueck's father, Victor Steinbrueck, an designer credited with helping sphere Pike Place Market and Seattle's historical Pioneer Square neighborhood, brought him up to revere Native culture, helium said.

Van Dyke told investigators that it was Steinbrueck's thought to correspond his enactment arsenic Native American.

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Steinbrueck denied that, saying Van Dyke appeared to beryllium trying to lessen his ain culpability. He called Van Dyke “a fabulous carver” who made creation successful the benignant of his wife's Alaska Native tribe, including pendants carved from fossilized mammoth oregon walrus ivory.

Neither Ye Olde Curiosity Shop nor Raven's Nest has been charged successful the case.

Gabriel Galanda, an Indigenous rights lawyer successful Seattle who belongs to the Round Valley Tribes of Northern California, said that if shops connection products arsenic Native-produced, they should beryllium verifying the practice of the creators, specified arsenic by examining tribal enrollment cards oregon national certificates of Indian blood.

“There has to beryllium immoderate diligence done by these galleries,” Galanda said.

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