Copyright © 2001 NLThomas
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TAHLEQUAH, OK - Oklahoma District Court Judge Bruce Sewell ordered the leader of a group that claims to be the "real Cherokee Nation" to bring his paycheck to court early next month so that the state can begin to garnish his wages.

The judge further ordered that anyone driving cars with "counterfeit tags" issued by the group has until September 15 to replace the tags. After September 15, Cherokee County and Oklahoma Highway Patrol officers will ticket and impound cars with the bogus tags. People with the bogus tags may go to Cherokee County District Court to receive an order declaring them to be the legal owner of the vehicle so they can obtain a valid title to replace the ones the leaders of the bogus group took and claim they can no longer find.

Sewell said that the defendants, Robin Mayes, Art Nave and Dave Hatton, must pay for advertisements in local papers saying that their victims can come to the Cherokee County District Court and file a motion to intervene in the case, which would entitle them to "recover the money they were cheated out of."

The Cherokee Nation brought suit against Mayes’ group in August of 2000, and at that time Sewell ordered the group to stop selling the bogus tags and coins and ruled that they were fraudulently using the name of the Cherokee Nation. The Cherokee County District Attorney did not try to stop the operations of the bogus group, and has said that she would not prosecute the people driving on the roads without valid tags. Now the District Attorney has filed a motion to intervene in the Cherokee Nation’s case against Mayes’ group and was in court with Cherokee Nation attorneys Thursday asking for direction from Judge Sewell.

"None of those tags that you issued are legal on the streets of Oklahoma", Sewell told Mayes. "That’s no less counterfeit than running a $20 bill through a copy machine."

Sewell said that Mayes and his co-defendants face large judgments in this case.

"About 30 per cent of your paycheck every month for the next ten years is going to go to paying for this", Sewell told Mayes. Sewell also said the defendants’ actions may leave them open to criminal charges.