Tribal Court Rules Charlie Smoke is Not a Native

Tribal Court Rules Charlie Smoke is Not a Native

Thursday, October 07, 2004 at 13:21

 

 

The issue of Charlie Smoke’s real identity has been settled once and for all.

 

The Regina Leader-Post is reporting that a tribal court on a South Dakota Indian reservation has ruled that the man known as Charlie Smoke is not Aboriginal and has been using the name of a dead elder.

 

Smoke’s real name is Charles Roger Leo Adams Junior, originally from Tennessee.

 

Adams is reportedly now in jail in Hot Springs, South Dakota on a charge of false impersonation — a case that has drawn the interest of the FBI.

 

Adams had earlier been charged with spousal abuse and child neglect, but the tribal court first had to make a determination about his identity before it could proceed, since it doesn’t have jurisdiction over non-Native people.

 

The tribal court also established that Adams has at least six other aliases, aside from Charlie Smoke, and that he has an extensive criminal record.

 

Adams recently lived in Regina and made headlines over his fight with Canadian immigration officials, who said he was in the country illegally.

 

At the time, Adams claimed he was of Aboriginal ancestry, and as such, was entitled to live anywhere he wanted in North America.

 

He was eventually deported.