5.09.07High bail set for Shinnecock raid arrestees
BY MITCHELL FREEDMAN
mitchell.freedman@newsday.com
The charges against 18 people accused of illegal drug sales or weapons possession -- all of them arrested during or after a massive raid on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation and in four houses scattered across the east end -- entered a new phase Wednesday morning as more than a dozen of them were arraigned by Judge C. Randall Hinrichs in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead.
Many had been in jail since the April 19 raid, but Wednesday they faced grand jury charges which, in several cases, were more serious than the original charges contained in the warrants used during the raid.
As the defendants came before Hinrichs, one at a time and each wearing dark green prison uniforms, assistant district attorney Elizabeth Creighton of the narcotics bureau asked for high bail -- $300,000 for many -- and said that, if the defendants could actually post it, she would first seek a separate hearing to determine the source of the bail money.
Several of the defendants had not yet had the opportunity to meet with their attorneys, and many of the attorneys simply reserved the right to have a bail hearing at a later date.
John A. Miles, 35, of 156 Hampton Ave., Mastic, described by Creighton as "the major supplier of cocaine to the Shinnecock reservation," was ordered held without bail. The prosecution had asked that Miles be held in $2 million bail, saying he had nine prior convictions, including several felonies.
Miles' mother and sister were in court watching the proceeding, and did not speak in the courtroom. But, in the hallway outside, Sheila Miles said her son was being falsely charged by people seeking to hide their own guilt. "That's my son in there," she said. "He's being falsely accused...he's a good person. He helps everybody."
His sister, Verna, said that Miles had spent time in jail in the past, but said he was being punished because of his old reputation. "He did his time. Now he takes care of his children," she said.
Creighton told judge Hinrichs that Miles and another defendant, Terrill Latney, 27, of 2 Bogota Road, Mastic Beach, regularly supplied cocaine to Awan Gumbs who, in turn, distributed it to others on the reservation. Awan Gumbs is the son of tribal trustee Lance Gumbs. He was among the 18 arrested.
As the defendants were arraigned, a large pile of boxes -- transcripts of the seven months of wiretaps that led up to the raids -- were stacked on a rolling cart on the side of the courtroom. Occasionally, one of the defense attorneys would pick up two or three of them and wheel them out of the building after their client's bail hearing took place.
BY MITCHELL FREEDMAN
mitchell.freedman@newsday.com
The charges against 18 people accused of illegal drug sales or weapons possession -- all of them arrested during or after a massive raid on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation and in four houses scattered across the east end -- entered a new phase Wednesday morning as more than a dozen of them were arraigned by Judge C. Randall Hinrichs in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead.
Many had been in jail since the April 19 raid, but Wednesday they faced grand jury charges which, in several cases, were more serious than the original charges contained in the warrants used during the raid.
As the defendants came before Hinrichs, one at a time and each wearing dark green prison uniforms, assistant district attorney Elizabeth Creighton of the narcotics bureau asked for high bail -- $300,000 for many -- and said that, if the defendants could actually post it, she would first seek a separate hearing to determine the source of the bail money.
Several of the defendants had not yet had the opportunity to meet with their attorneys, and many of the attorneys simply reserved the right to have a bail hearing at a later date.
John A. Miles, 35, of 156 Hampton Ave., Mastic, described by Creighton as "the major supplier of cocaine to the Shinnecock reservation," was ordered held without bail. The prosecution had asked that Miles be held in $2 million bail, saying he had nine prior convictions, including several felonies.
Miles' mother and sister were in court watching the proceeding, and did not speak in the courtroom. But, in the hallway outside, Sheila Miles said her son was being falsely charged by people seeking to hide their own guilt. "That's my son in there," she said. "He's being falsely accused...he's a good person. He helps everybody."
His sister, Verna, said that Miles had spent time in jail in the past, but said he was being punished because of his old reputation. "He did his time. Now he takes care of his children," she said.
Creighton told judge Hinrichs that Miles and another defendant, Terrill Latney, 27, of 2 Bogota Road, Mastic Beach, regularly supplied cocaine to Awan Gumbs who, in turn, distributed it to others on the reservation. Awan Gumbs is the son of tribal trustee Lance Gumbs. He was among the 18 arrested.
As the defendants were arraigned, a large pile of boxes -- transcripts of the seven months of wiretaps that led up to the raids -- were stacked on a rolling cart on the side of the courtroom. Occasionally, one of the defense attorneys would pick up two or three of them and wheel them out of the building after their client's bail hearing took place.
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