On Friday, Jan. 19, U.S. Magistrate Judge James Candelaria ordered that Lyndreth Hemp Wall be placed into a halfway house in Denver, with a hearing on Monday to make the move final.
Wall will remain at the halfway house in Denver until one in Durango can take him.
On Monday, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe General Counsel Peter Ortego told The Journal that he has not received word whether or not Wall has resigned from his position on the tribal council.
Last week, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe has announced that Councilman Wall, who faces a federal indictment on 12 counts of alleged sexual abuse, has been given the choice of unpaid leave indefinitely or resignation.
According to information released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office on Friday, Jan. 12, Wall is suspected of committing at least 12 counts of sexual abuse on the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation in Towaoc from 1997 to 2017. His case is being investigated by the FBI and Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Wall had his first hearing Jan. 12 in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado Magistrate Candelaria’s courtroom in Durango.
The 12 charges were divided into two groups by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors said eight charges were for alleged sexual abuse and four were for alleged abusive sexual contact “in Indian Country.”
On Jan. 13, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Council decided in a special meeting to put Wall on “unpaid administrative leave indefinitely if he does not resign,” according to a news release emailed to The Journal by Ortego.
The Tribal Council also decided to remove Wall from all boards and commissions and to “issue a formal reprimand.”
The tribe’s constitution would allow for Wall’s removal from the council by a two-thirds vote. If he is convicted of the federal charges, he “will never be entitled to serve on the Council again.”
“The Tribal Council offers its prayers to the victims alleged in the indictment and asks the community to unite and support each other as the case against Council Member Wall winds its way through the justice system,” the news release said.
Tribal Chairman Manuel Heart on Jan. 15 told The Journal that the news release would stand as his statement on Wall’s indictment.
Wall was elected to the council in November, winning the seat by six votes after a recount over contender Leland Collins. In the same month, Collins replaced Wall on the Montezuma-Cortez School District Re-1 Board of Education, where Wall served District D for nearly a year after Stacey Hall resigned from the board.
The indictment detailed the accounts of four women who reported sexual contact with Wall from 1997 to 2017. At least one was under the age of 16 at the time of the alleged abuse.
All the women considered Wall to be a healer and believed the assaults were necessary for their healing, as detailed by the indictment.
Wall’s arraignment, detention and discovery hearings were set for Thursday, Jan. 18 at 1 p.m. in U.S. District Court Room 150 in Durango before Candelaria.
The FBI and BIA ask that anyone who has information about the case or other possible victims to call the FBI Denver office at (303) 629-7171.
