Everett, Wash.
Published: Thursday, July 2, 2009

New York man indicted in Blue Stilly Smoke Shop case

He is accused of lying to investigators examining the sale of untaxed cigarettes at a tribal shop in Arlington.

By Krista J. Kapralos, Herald Writer

 ARLINGTON -- A New York man appeared in federal court in that state Wednesday to answer charges that he lied about his role in the sale of untaxed cigarettes at the Blue Stilly Smoke Shop in Arlington.

Arthur "Sugar" Montour, 37, turned himself in to federal authorities in response to a Seattle grand jury indictment charging that he made multiple false statements when he denied having sold his Seneca brand cigarettes to the Blue Stilly, which operated on Stillaguamish tribal land for about five years. He was released and is scheduled to appear in a federal courtroom in Washington on July 10.

Montour did not respond to messages left for him at the offices of his company, Native Wholesale Supply, located about 30 miles south of Buffalo, N.Y., on the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation. Native Wholesale Supply sells Seneca brand cigarettes.

The indictment is the latest in a series of federal actions in connection with the Blue Stilly Smoke Shop. The shop operated without a state cigarette compact between 2003 and 2007. It was owned and operated by Eddie Goodridge Jr., who was until recently the Stillaguamish Tribe's executive director. His parents, Ed and Linda Good­ridge, shared ownership of the shop. Ed Goodridge was a longtime tribal leader.

Both Goodridge men last month began 14-month sentences in federal prison. Linda Good­ridge was sentenced to home detention. Sara Schroedl, a relative of the Goodridges, was also part owner in the shop. She is now serving an eight-month federal prison sentence.

The Goodridges and Schroedl made more than $55 million from selling untaxed cigarettes, according to court papers. They avoided paying $15 million in state taxes.

Montour is accused of lying to federal prosecutors who were seeking details about more than $50,000 raised through the illegal sale of tobacco products.

The tribe signed a cigarette compact with the state in 2008, in which it agreed to tax cigarettes sold at the shop so as to not undercut non-Indian tobacco sales. The tribe keeps that tax revenue to fund its own government.

The tribe shut down the Blue Stilly after the Goodridges and Schroedl pleaded guilty in federal court. Stilly Smoke Signals, another tobacco shop, opened in its place. Island Enterprises, the economic development arm of the Squaxin Island tribe, now is helping the Stillaguamish Tribe operate Stilly Smoke Signals, said Bob Whitener, president of Island Enterprises.

The Squaxin Island tribe manufactures its own "Skookum Creek" cigarette brand under a federal license and sells those cigarettes under a state compact. The tribe doesn't sell Seneca brand cigarettes in any of the smoke shops it operates, Whitener said.

Seneca cigarettes were available on the Stillaguamish Indian Reservation before the Goodridges opened the Blue Stilly. Stormmy Paul, a Tulalip Tribal member, sold the brand between 2000 and 2003 at his Stilly Trading Post.

Paul said Wednesday that he bought some of the cigarettes sold there through Native Wholesale Supply, which Montour owns. Paul pleaded guilty in 2006 to trafficking in untaxed cigarettes. He served a 10-month home detention sentence.

It's not the first time Montour has been in trouble with the law. He was sued late last year for failure to pay more than $18 million required under the federal master settlement agreement that governs certain tobacco sales. Both Native Wholesale Supply and Grand River Enterprises, a company with close ties to Native Wholesale Supply, have been targets of a complicated web of lawsuits, mostly in efforts to seize illegal cigarettes and unpaid taxes and other fees.

Montour comes from a tribe whose members have been targets of other criminal investigations. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, members of the Mohawk Warrior Society engaged in a series of violent encounters with New York state police.

Leaders of the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe said Montour lives within that community, but he is not a tribal member. Montour has been reported to be a former Seneca tribal leader, but people at Seneca Nation headquarters declined to comment on his past and current relationship with the tribe.

The Seneca Nation and the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe are both part of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, also known as Iroquois. The confederacy has a long history of defying state and federal governments in an effort to preserve its sovereignty. Members of the St. Regis Mohawk tribe, whose reservation is split by the U.S.-Canada line, engaged last month in a standoff with Canadian and U.S. police over border control issues.

Seneca tribal leaders pledged this year to investigate Seneca-brand cigarettes after news reports made public concerns about unusually high levels of contaminants in the cigarettes.
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA