FBI raids tribal resort

The Golden Moon Hotel and Casino in Neshoba County was raided by FBI agents on Tuesday. A search warrant was also issued for the Silver Star Hotel and Casino on resort grounds. / File photo/The Clarion-Ledger

Written by

Jerry Mitchell

FBI agents on Tuesday raided the Mississippi Choctaws' Pearl River Resort - an indication there is some evidence or allegations of a federal crime, a former federal prosecutor said.
To obtain the search warrant, agents had to convince a magistrate there was "probable cause to believe that a federal felony crime was committed and that there was evidence of that crime at those facilities," said former U.S. Attorney Doug Jones of Birmingham.
The raid comes a week after a new chief was elected. A split Tribal Council on Friday threw out the election.
Casino officials confirmed a search warrant had been executed at the Neshoba County casinos by the U.S. Department of Justice but gave no further details.
"The resort is monitoring the situation closely and will continue to cooperate fully with law enforcement authorities in their investigation," CEO Maj. Gen. Paul Harvey said in a statement. "There will be no interruption in the operation of business at the resort."
The raid reportedly involved the seizing of computer hard drives at the Silver Star and Golden Moon hotel-casinos in Neshoba County.
Ty Breedlove, spokesman for the FBI in Jackson, would not weigh in on the matter. "We cannot comment on the situation at this time," he said. "We may be able to provide some information at a later time."
It is unique for the FBI to raid a casino on an Indian reservation, Jones said. "It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out."
Phyliss J. Anderson would have taken office Tuesday, but the Tribal Council voted Friday to throw out that election and hold a new one Sept. 6. Salary for the job is $466,000 a year.
Current chief, Beasley Denson, who lost to Anderson, last week cast the deciding vote in favor of a new election.
After that meeting, Anderson declared the vote "an attempt to steal our election."
"The Choctaw voters elected a new chief to lead our tribe and clean up the financial mess. The 'Atlanta group' that has controlled our money is trying to take our vote away," she said referring to Mercury Gaming Management and its affiliate marketing firm, the Titan Agency, the management company that runs Pearl River Resort.