Prominent Abenaki leader
accused of exploiting vulnerable adult
BY MIKE DONOGHUE, FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2011
April St. Francis Merrill, chief of the Missisquoi Abenaki tribe based in Swanton, is facing a charge of exploitation of a vulnerable adult by manipulating his financial records, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday.
Merrill, 42, of Highgate is due for arraignment March 14 in Vermont Superior Court in St. Albans on the felony charge, Sheriff Robert Norris said.
Attempts to reach Merrill were unsuccessful Wednesday afternoon.
Norris said "several thousands of dollars" were involved during a 4½ year period involving bank and credit-card accounts while Merrill was taking care of the financial business of an elderly man.
Norris said his office received a complaint last summer from Adult Protective Services about "what appeared to be some suspicious activity in his personal bank account."
Norris said the call came into the sheriff’s office because it patrols Highgate. He said during the past several months Detective Kevin Bushey conducted the investigation, which wrapped up Tuesday when he issued Merrill the court citation.
Franklin County State’s Attorney Jim Hughes, who will be responsible for prosecuting the charge, also could not be reached for comment.
Contact Mike Donoghue at 660-1845 or mdonoghue@burlingtonfreepress.com
Franklin County, Vermont Sheriff Norris is actually a cousin relation to April St. Francis-Merrill. She is a 4th cousin once removed of Robert Wayne Norris. Her mother, Patsy Partlow-St. Francis (the late Homer Walter St. Francis Sr.'s wife) is 3rd cousin twice removed of Robert Wayne Norris. Sheriff Robert Wayne Norris (who signed the legal papers against April Merrill) is a descendant of Almeda (nee: Covey) Norris > Almeda's father was Stephen Covey > Stephen Jr.'s mother was Elizabeth Jane (nee: Partlow) Covey > Elizabeth's parents were James Partlow and Eleanor "Lany" Van Dyke.
Elizabeth's sibling was Charles Henry Partlow, who is mentioned in the Office of Federal Acknowledgment. Some in April's "St. Francis/Sokoki group inc.'d" claim he (the Partlow line) was an Abenaki. April's mother, Patsy St. Francis, is a Partlow descendant through her father. I have yet to verify that or review ANY clear and convincing documentary evidence documentarily or otherwise of that assumption that he, Charles Henry Partlow (or any of his family) were "Abenakis".
Yet, I do wonder if this Sheriff Robert Wayne Norris of Franklin County, Vermont knows of his relationship to April St. Francis-Merrill? If he does, I ponder whether he has a Inc. St. Francis-Sokoki Band Membership Card issued by either the late "Grand Chief" Homer St. Francis Sr, the late "Tribal Judge" Michael Delaney or from "Chief" April A. (St. Francis) Merrill stuck in his wallet? I also doubt it, that April's Membership Card or Chief-li-ness would be "cut in two" with a pair of sissors, because she has now been charged with a felony; and what will happen when she is possibly convicted of such charge, in a court of law? Will Dr. Frederick Matthew Wiseman Ph.D take over and assume the Chief-li-ness position of the incorporation or will "Chief" Donald Warren Stevens Jr. assume the position for both Nulhegan Inc. and the St. Francis/Sokoki Inc. group(s)? It does make one wonder. I know the late Homer St. Francis Sr. was a felon, and he didn't loose his 'status' in having his "Plastic Card" cut in two by his "Tribal Judge" ... I guess since he was in charge (as is his daughter April) the rules and regulation's only APPLY to OTHER PEOPLE, holding their created Plastic Abenaki Membership Cards to their incorporations? Just something for people to think about....April A. (nee; St. Francis) Rushlow - Merrill is accused of allegedly manipulating his (the "elderly man") financial records" quote...
What other FINANCIAL RECORDS has this "Chief" of this Incorporation manipulated? Gaining funding yearly, from the Department of Education, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Agriculture? What else has she been "hiding"?! I think it is about time someone in the Judicial and I.R.S. Agencies actually INVESTIGATE and PROSECUTE this organization and ANYONE who was involved in it, for any possible criminal activities that have happened. Isn't the Sheriff "cousin" to April Merrill? It would seem that "someone" or some persons "close to her" has been covering up a lot of "dirt" for Mrs. Merrill in years past and recently! That just my opinion and thinking on the matter. No, I am not trying to imply or infer that Sheriff Norris has been or is "protecting" April Merrill but someone has been, to my thinking. It's the opinion of many people, that it was "just a matter of time" before this "Chief" and her cronies were exposed for what's REALLY truthfully been happening. And what has been not so truthfully been going on, for years. It's been going on for years, this "Abenaki" Identity Theft Scheme. Their Shell Game shifting around of Grant Funding monies to benefit a select few families and or person's, within each of these incorporation's. What about Jeffrey Benay and his "involvement" with Title VII Indian Education funding? He supported and allied with April Merrill for MANY years; and how about all the person(s) who did the organization's financial records too, right along side April Merrill?
MAYBE this is why Frederick Matthew Wiseman Ph.D caters to these other Inc.'d organizations (EL-NU, NULHEGAN, KOASEK), "getting distance from April Merrill" ... simply to keep himself and his "Indian" "Abenaki Scheme" going, KNOWING full well what April Merrill has been doing and she became a liability to him, as well as to Donald W. Stevens Jr. as well? As one would say, "jump from one incorporation to another, like as if it were a ship sinking". Recently I received this photograph of Frederick M. Wiseman PhD by email....
Frederick Matthew Wiseman Ph.D
ALLEGED and REINVENTED "Abenaki"
of the
St. Francis - Sokoki Band of the
"Abenaki Nation"
Incorporated
~
~
No matter what his Johnson State College Students
created for him to wear....
the "BS Filter" works!
The good Professor is NOT "who he presents himself to be"
He is not "who he claims to be either"
~REMEMBER~
He supported and supports April A. St. Francis-Merrill
with this concocted and confabulating
"VT Indigenous Alliance"
INCORPORATION'S
"birds of a feather, flock together"
