CONTRIBUTED PHOTO County sheriff offices are being requested to notify the Meskwaki Nation Tribal Police department if they are going to enter the boundaries of the settlement.

Prosecution of some cases filed by Meskwaki Nation Tribal Police which land in Iowa courts has a new look.

Since 1948, cases handled in Tama County courts were prosecuted by the Tama County Attorney’s Office at the county expense. In late 2018 the U.S. Congress passed and President Donald Trump signed a law which turned responsibility for law enforcement jurisdiction on the Meskwaki Settlement to the tribe.

Peter Grady was subsequently appointed by the State Executive Council as the Iowa Attorney General’s Office special prosecutor. The appointment was made Nov. 25.

The measure was approved with Gov. Kim Reynolds, Secretary of State Paul Pate, Auditor Rob Sand, Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald and Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig.

Among Grady’s duties are to handle cases brought by the Meskwaki Nation Tribal Police to Iowa courts. The cases involve non-native people against other non-native or, cases that do not have a victim and occur on the settlement.

However, Tama County Magistrate Richard Vander Mey vows he will hold jurisdictional hearings on cases for which the crimes have allegedly occurred on the Meskwaki Settlement. He maintains he is unable to determine if a defendant is a “non-native” or what exactly constitutes a “victimless crime.”

One example is a case in which Vander Mey dismissed charges against Jessica Rae Stanton, 46, of Marshalltown. Charges of trespassing and possession of drug paraphernalia were filed against her by Meskwaki Police on the settlement.

The case is now up for an initial appearance and a jurisdictional hearing was reset for Feb. 6.

Vander Mey dismissed the charges against Stanton in January 2019.

On Sept. 13, the Iowa Supreme Court reversed Vander Mey’s order, the charges were refiled and the case was sent back to district court.

Law enforcement limbo

Just as Meskwaki court jurisdiction continues to appear unresolved, Tama County law enforcement agencies appear to be in limbo on how far to go to assist Meskwaki Nation Tribal Police on day-to-day matters.

However, Tama County Sheriff Dennis Kucera, Tama Police Chief Jason Bina and Toledo Police Chief Nathan Shepard all have said their departments will respond in an emergency to calls for aid by Meskwaki Nation Tribal Police.

They note they do not have mutual aid agreements in place.

State law enforcement will consider requests for assistance as they come.

Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Alex Dinkla said, “The department will take requests from the tribe on a case-by-case basis. If the federal government is requesting assistance or it is a significant investigation that implicated public safety, the department will assist.”

Meskwaki Nation Tribal Police Chief Jacob Molitor said it continues with no mutual aid agreement in place. However, Molitor attended the Tama County Board of Supervisors and Tama City Council earlier this week and introduced himself.

The issue surfaced and appears to have remained unresolved since Meskwaki Attorney General Jay Finch wrote to Sheriff Kucera in December of 2018.

Finch said in the letter the Tama County Sheriff’s Department no longer had jurisdiction over the settlement.

The letter further stated, “In the future we would kindly and respectively request that you inform your officers they are only to come onto the Settlement if they are invited or first notify the Meskwaki Nation Police Department.”

Finch did call for establishment of a mutual aid agreement at that time.