By Howard Riedel & Eileen Buckley
Cattaraugus, NY – The state tax department has returned a truck full of cigarettes seized on Monday from a Seneca Nation businessman.
The tax department still insists that the stop and seizure of the truck was legal, but released a statement yesterday that says they are returning the truck to Aaron Pierce "after a review of the facts we've obtained in the last 48 hours."
The department has not said what those facts are. Pierce will not be prosecuted for transporting illegal cigarettes on public roads as the tax department suggested Tuesday.
Seneca leaders say the state had no legal right to stop the shipment of goods between two of their reservations.
Thursday morning Seneca Nation president Barry Snyder issued the following statement:
"The Nation is glad to learn that the State has decided to return the truck and cigarettes improperly seized from one of our licensed wholesalers. But, the stop and seizure shouldn't have happened in the first place. The State has no right to interfere with the Nation's comprehensive regulation of our tobacco economy or the lawful trade of Seneca-stamped tobacco product among Seneca licensed businesses.
The State's lack of a full explanation for its conduct throughout this process is a still a major concern. In refusing to provide a full explanation, State officials are in essence reserving the right to take additional aggressive action towards the Nation and the Seneca people. Hopefully, the State's actions were the result of simple misunderstandings on the part of the State agents who were acting without authority from their supervisors something that is easily explained to the public. However, the absence of a full explanation could lead this stop and seizure to be construed as part of a plan by the State to harass and bully Seneca people," said Seneca Nation President Barry E. Snyder, Sr.