MOONEYS ARRESTED FOR DISTRIBUTION, POSSESSION OF PEYOTE

Local medicine man James Warren "Flaming Eagle" Mooney was out walking his
dog Thursday morning when agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration approached him with an arrest warrant.

James Mooney and his wife, Linda, were arrested near their Spanish Fork
home on 16 combined drug charges involving possession and distribution of
peyote. Each of the charges carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Nicholas Stark, an Ogden man with ties to Oklevueha EarthWalks Native
America Church, which the Mooneys founded in 1997, was also named in the
federal indictment. In the indictment, which was filed June 15 but sealed
until Thursday morning, Stark was charged for distribution and possession
of peyote and for possession of coca leaves.

The Mooneys and Stark have an initial hearing in front of U.S. Magistrate
Judge Sam Alba at the federal courthouse in Salt Lake City at 11 a.m.
today. Linda Mooney was booked at Davis County Jail and James Mooney at
Weber County Jail on Thursday evening to be held until the arraignment.

In June 2004, the Utah Supreme Court exonerated the Mooneys from more than
a dozen felony drug charges the Utah County Attorney's Office had brought
against them in November 2000. The landmark ruling stated that religious
leaders like Mooney could not be prosecuted for distributing peyote to
non-American Indians as part of a legitimate religious ceremony -- even if
those leaders are not members of federally recognized American Indian tribe.

But the state court's ruling is not binding on courts or agencies, and
federal courts have ruled in the past that the use of peyote, a
hallucinogenic cactus and a Schedule I controlled substance, is illegal
except in "bona fide" religious ceremonies by members of federally
recognized tribes.

U.S. Attorney Paul Warner stated in a news release Thursday that the
Mooneys and Stark, who do not claim membership in a federally recognized
tribe, broke federal drug laws.

"We believe the Mooneys and Mr. Stark are not allowed to use peyote under
federal law," he said. "Drug dealers engaged in the distribution of a
controlled substance are going to be prosecuted."

Melodie Rydalch, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Salt Lake
City, said the indictment also challenges James Mooney's status as American
Indian and his tribal membership.

"The indictment alleges that he is not a Native American, not a member of a
federally recognized tribe and therefore is not entitled under federal law
to possess or distribute a controlled substance," she said. Rydalch said
federal prosecutors would push to have the Mooneys jailed until the case is
resolved because the couple is a risk to the community.

Kathryn Collard, a Salt Lake attorney who represented the Mooneys and
Oklevueha EarthWalks in Utah courts, blasted the DEA and the U.S.
Attorney's Office for what she described as a "witch hunt" against her
former clients.

"I think it's the drug war run amok," she said. "I think they do it because
they can. They have the power, they have the money, they have hundreds of
attorneys and all kinds of people to do their bidding."

The Mooneys' current attorney, Randall Marshall, was out of town Thursday
and did not return telephone calls.

David Hamblin, a friend of the Mooneys and a spiritual leader of Oklevueha
EarthWalks, said Mooney was out walking his dog and speaking to Hamblin on
a mobile phone Thursday morning when federal agents stopped Mooney.

"He was approached by DEA agents that told him to take his dog back home
and that they were going to arrest him," Hamblin said. "I could hear their
voices on the phone."

Justin Schoenrock, James Mooney's 26-year-old stepson who was at the
Mooney's home Thursday, said the agents arrested Mooney just before 9 a.m.

He said his mother, Linda Mooney, called him from her workplace at about
the same time and said she would come home shortly. Linda Mooney was
arrested as she drove home from her workplace, Schoenrock said. He said the
agents gave no explanation of the arrest.

"They didn't tell me anything," he said.

Schoenrock said the Mooney's younger children were out of state visiting
family when their parents were arrested.

DEA agents visited the Mooneys' home and the office of a former bookkeeper
for Oklevueha EarthWalks last week but did not serve any warrants.