Wife of Utah doctor in Indian artifacts case sues FBI, BLM for his suicide

Jeanne & James Redd

The widow of a Blanding doctor who killed himself after being arrested in an American Indian artifacts trafficking sting contends the federal agencies that conducted the raid caused his death. Jeanne H. Redd filed a wrongful death lawsuit Friday against a dozen agents with the Bureau of Land Management and the FBI, claiming they pushed her husband, James D. Redd, to suicide. Federal agents armed with semi-automatic weapons arrested the Redds along with 22 others June 10, 2009, after a two-year undercover operation in the Four Corners area of southern Utah. "The next day, June 11, 2009, reflecting on the excessive, overreaching and abusive treatment he had been subjected to, after making a recording based upon his tragic experience, Dr. Redd took his own life. His final words connected his death to the defendants' egregious actions," according to the 31-page suit filed in U.S. District Court. Redd, 60, asphyxiated himself by connecting a hose to the exhaust pipe of his car. Two others associated with the case also committed suicide. Jeanne Redd is represented by Montana attorney Edward Moriarty, who worked as a partner with famed Wyoming attorney Gerry Spence for 30 years. Federal prosecutors charged James Redd with one felony count of theft of tribal property, specifically an effigy bird pendant. Redd found the quarter-inch-long relic while on a family walk. "Little did he know, federal agents inebriated with power and acting with no remorse, would use this shell to attempt to justify the arrest of Dr. Redd for a felony, ultimately shattering the sanctity of his life," the lawsuit states...more

The article goes on to report:

The suit lambastes what the BLM and FBI dubbed Operation Cerberus Action as overkill. In Greek mythology, Cerberus is a three-headed dog that guards the underworld.

Cerberus was a three-headed monster with a mane of live serpents and a snake's tail, who guarded the entrance to Hades. It was Heracles (Hercules) who had to enter the Gates of Hell to capture the beast.

Let's hope we don't have to go to the same lengths to get agents like this under control.