Documenting Vincent LaDuke/Sun Bear claims?

[MattOKC]

I have a question about Vincent LaDuke, but I'm worried that people might misunderstand me as some sort of advocate of his who is disputing claims made against him. In no way whatsoever do I associate with, endorse, or legitimize him, I am merely asking for further verification of one particular claim made about him.

The home page of NAFPS states, "Vincent La Duke was a serial rapist who was facing numerous charges when he died, including the rape of girls as young as fourteen." I sought confirmation of that claim by Googling "Vincent LaDuke rape" and found that almost every hit was a word-for-word reiteration of this same sentence, so apparently this allegation has been copied, pasted, and redistributed quite often across the web. What I could not find, however, was any verification of this statement...just reiterations of the statement borrowing the text from one another's web pages.

Can someone point me to objective, confirmatory information that verifies this claim about Vincent LaDuke? Any public record, court document, news item, sex offender database, etc. that substantiates that he was facing multiple charges of rape?

Again, let me reassure members that I am not asking this to debate the LaDuke issue, since frankly I am 100% in harmony with the stated purpose, concerns, and positions taken by NAFPS and am SO glad to see organized opposition to charlatans. Please don't misunderstand me; I am only asking for a source of data pertaining to this lone statement. This is only a concern because I am Anishinaabe as well, and a psychotherapist who works for a rape crisis program, and I need to substantiate some research.

Megwetch!

[Moma_porcupine]

Hi MattOKC

I found this , which appears to be dated in 2003,

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ShamanicWays/message/2867?threaded=1&var=1&p=3

The
> > > following piece of prose at the bottom of mine is from Al
> Carroll -
> >
> > > Mescalero Apache, who is very anti new age frauds.

(continues)
"
(begins quote )
 

The sources for Vincent Laduke (so called "Sun Bear") being
> a
> > > serial rapist were several reputable AIM members in the NE.
> The
> > > charges are also (obviously) on file in the state of New
> > > Hampshire where he raped the two young girls. No one NDN
> > > gives a flying f*** about his mythical "success". His so
> > > called Bear Tribe had no success whatsoever in any of their
> > > goals. The only success Laduke ever had was in gratifying
> his
> > > own selfish desires for white money, white women, and the
> > > worship of gullible whites. It's certainly not envy of Laduke,
> > it's
> > > disgust over his abuse of people and beliefs, his lifetime of
> > lies,
> > > and his spreading misconceptions that harm relations
> between
> > > whites and NDNs. For one thing, he certainly didn't "invent"
> the
> > > medicine wheel. He jut lied about how it's used."

(continues...)

I don't know how to do a search of NH court records, and if this actually happened, it may be difficult to access this information, as it sounds like this case never went to court and involved minors .

There is also the statements below- though as these people were both defending some questionable activities, I'm not sure how much weight should be given to what they say.

For what they are worth, their comments do appear to cooberate that there was some kind of problem , and people who were leaders of the Bear Tribe were seen as somehow responsible.

http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=1509.30
Min Toro

Reply #39

Example: about Amylee appearing at the Bear Tribe – lots of good people came and went, like R. Carlos Nakai, Dr. Eunice Baumann, and many, many others! When Amylee learned women were abused by so-called Elders there, she took a stand and said she could not give women the false impression it was safe there, by virtue of her being there too. She also asked them to not offer co-ed sweat lodges. She asked them to stop calling those lodges and ceremonies “traditional.Huh When they declined, she made her courageous statement (she was still young to be talking that way to anyone older) and respectfully left – then she took out ads in magazines asking women who had been abused at any kind of so-called spiritual gathering to contact her and the professionals she worked with if they wanted support. I was one. That was in the late 1980’s or early1990!

There is also this from someone claiming to be the author of the book Profiles in Wisdom;

http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=1509.45

Reply #56

One poster on this web-page wrote accurately and powerfully of how AmyLee took an ethical stand in the 1990s at one of the Bear Tribe Medicine Wheel Gatherings in New York after several women came to her to complain of sexual improprieties involving other people. I can confirm that AmyLee took an immediate and courageous stand on behalf of all the women. She confronted the leaders and the accused, she demanded justice, and she then severed her ties with the gathering. I was there. I saw her tears of sorrow after she met with the women, and then I saw her strength, determination, clarity, and wisdom in confronting the situation. She made a big difference. Things changed after AmyLee stepped forward, and her subsequent principled departure from the gathering.

However, from what is said here, I see no reason to assume the complaint was specifically to do with Sun Bear.

Even if Sun Bear was accused and was facing charges when he died, it's proabably important to note that being accused , is not the same thing as having been convicted, and people sometimes do get wrongly accused.
 
I'm glad you asked about this... and I hope this story can be clarified.

[Smart Mule]

The situation in NH occurred at Another Place a former 'retreat' and commune located at 187 Merriam Hill Road in Greenville, New Hampshire at I believe a Dance New England function.  It happened in the late 80's possibly the very early 90's.  I honestly don't know if there was a police report filed, there very well might have been.  To my knowledge, charges were never filed, though there is the slight possibility that they were filed and dropped.  I was told this by an individual who was present when the incident occurred.