Mojave Apache Indian leaders in a standoff with the government over gambling on the reservation said they won't comply with the U.S. attorney's demand to give up 349 video gaming machines.
U.S. Attorney Linda Akers gave the Fort McDowell Indian Community until noon Thursday to give up the machines, which are in trailers in a bingo hall parking lot.She has been trying to confiscate the machines since May 12, when she authorized raids on five reservations to remove 750 machines because Arizona had not negotiated formal agreements to allow the machines.
Other forms of gambling are allowed.
She has sought a court injunction against the tribe and demanded that it pay $64,000 as the cost of the standoff over the first 10 days.
"It's like invading some other country and then asking that country to pay for the invasion," said tribal Vice President Gilbert Jones.
"There's no way we will turn over the machines. We're very agitated," Jones said. "This is something she created. She stuck her neck out, if she gets it cut off, that's her problem."
Akers made her demands in a letter to the tribe's lawyer, Michael D. Hawkins.
She did not say what would happen if the tribe failed to comply, except that "the ultimate disposition of the machines in the vans will depend upon the tribe's actions now."
Federal agents seized the machines from the other four reservations, but Fort McDowell residents would not let the FBI agents leave with the video keno, poker and pull tab machines.