Three former Stillaguamish tribal leaders and the wife of a former tribal leader expect to learn today how much time they will spend behind bars for trafficking in untaxed cigarettes.
Federal prosecutors have asked that Ed Goodridge Sr. and his son, Eddie Goodridge Jr., be sentenced to 18 months in prison and that Linda Goodridge, Ed Goodridge’s wife, and Sara Schroedl, a relative of the Goodridges’, be sentenced to one year in prison.
All four in November pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Seattle to cheating Washington state out of more than $25 million in taxes that should have been paid on the cigarettes sold in their Blue Stilly Smoke Shop in Arlington.
Ed Goodridge, Eddie Goodridge Jr. and Schroedl all have held powerful leadership posts with the Stillaguamish Indian tribe in the past. Eddie Goodridge Jr. was the tribe’s executive director until he pleaded guilty late last year.
According to court documents, the four raked in at least $55 million between March 2003 and May 2007 by selling untaxed cigarettes. They were ordered late last year to hand over about $1 million in cash, and pay more than $25 million in restitution.
The case is just one of a spate of federal crimes by American Indians selling untaxed cigarettes. Other Indians, including Tulalip tribal member Stormmy Paul, who made millions selling untaxed cigarettes, have escaped prison time and instead have served probation.
Federal prosecutors argued that while the Goodridges and Schroedl should serve sentences similar to those who have committed similar crimes, they deserve some prison time because their actions have caused more damage.
According to court documents, tax dollar losses to the state in the case are nearly triple those lost in the next highest case. Prosecutors also argued that jail time is appropriate because Ed Goodridge, Eddie Goodridge and Schroedl were all members of the Stillaguamish tribal council when they opened the Blue Stilly Smoke Shop and operated it for their own benefit.
“This suggests both an abuse of trust on their part and a major conflict of interest,” prosecutors argued in court documents. “They not only victimized the state of Washington, they victimized their own tribe.”
Prosecutors also said both Goodridge men have been problems for state and federal agents in the past.
Ed Goodridge in 2007 was convicted of disorderly conduct, after he tried to stop police officers who were responding to a domestic violence complaint. According to court papers, he tried to kick over police motorcycles and resisted arrest.
Ed Goodridge also warned state officers, in a 2001 letter to the state Department of Revenue, that they would not be allowed onto Stillaguamish tribal land.
“Goodridge, Sr.’s egregious abuse of his position of tribal chairman, coupled with the greed evidence by the diversion of the funds to he and his family, as opposed to a tribal opportunity, warrants a lengthy term of imprisonment,” prosecutors argued.
In a February letter to the court, Ed Goodridge wrote that he and the others opened the smoke shop, with the tribal council’s blessing in order to bring revenue for the tribe. Both Goodridge men and Schroedl were tribal council members at the time.
“The tribe needed the funding badly,” he wrote, “to support other tribal programs and pay tribal wages.”
The four operated the Blue Stilly Smoke Shop on tribal trust land they leased from the Stillaguamish tribe. The smoke shop was run illegally between 2003 until May of last year. That’s when the Stillaguamish tribe signed a cigarette sales compact with the state. The compact was signed about a year after the smoke shop was raided by federal agents in an investigation into untaxed cigarettes sold on Indian land.
Schroedl said last year that she invested in the smoke shop at the invitation of the Goodridge family. She said she didn’t know then that the business was illegal.
Eddie Goodridge has in the past rankled members of his tribe by driving pricey sports cars, while other American Indians struggled with poverty.
The Stillaguamish tribal government took over the smoke shop early this month, when the Goodridges’ lease on the tribal trust land ended, said Steven Ungar, an attorney for the tribe. Revenue from the smoke shop will now go directly to the tribe, he said.
It’s not clear whether the tribal government purchased the building or any tobacco inventory from the Goodridges and Schroedl.
The Goodridge family owns a handful of expensive vintage and sports cars. Ed and Linda Goodridge also own the Old Silvana General Store, where they sell die-cast and model cars. They also host a car show every year in downtown Silvana.
According to the store’s Web site, the Goodridge family at one point hoped to open a museum dedicated to drag racing in the Pacific Northwest, to feature the “life’s work collection of The Goodridge Family.”
Krista J. Kapralos: 425-339-3422, kkapralos@heraldnet.com.
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