JUST TRYING TO MAKE A DISHONEST LIVING

Two Seattle artists charged with faking Native American heritage 

 

By Rich Calder

 

New York Post

December 11, 2021

 

 

Lewis Anthony Rath and Jerry Chris Van Dyke sold their counterfeit goods at Seattle's Ye Olde Curiosity Shop

 

 

Two Washington state artists have been being charged with pretending to be Native American carvers to sell works at downtown Seattle galleries.

Lewis Anthony Rath, 52, and Jerry Chris Van Dyke, 67, were charged separately by the feds with violating the Indian Arts and Crafts Act, which prohibits misrepresentation in the selling of American Indian or Alaska Native arts and crafts, authorities said Friday.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Rath falsely claimed to be part of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, and Van Dyke pretended to be a member in the Nez Perce Tribe. The goods they put up for sale included masks, totem poles and pendants sold in 2019 at Raven’s Nest Treasure in Pike Place Market and at Ye Olde Curiosity Shop along Seattle’s waterfront, authorities said.

“By flooding the market with counterfeit Native American art and craftwork, these crimes cheat the consumer, undermine the economic livelihood of Native American artists, and impair Indian culture,” Edward Grace, assistant director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement, said in a news release. 

 

Lewis Anthony Rath was one of the two artists charged under the Indian Arts and Crafts Act 

 

Both men were scheduled to appear Friday before a federal judge in U.S. District Court in Seattle. Their attorneys declined comment.

The probe began after the Indian Arts and Crafts Board, an Interior Department agency that promotes Native art, received complaints both men were fraudulently claiming to be part of a tribe.

Rath, of Maple Falls, Wash., is charged with four counts of misrepresentation of Indian-produced goods, which is punishable by up to five years in prison. 

 

Jerry Chris Van Dyke (pictured) and Rath insisted they were tribal members 

 

Van Dyke, of Seattle, faces two counts of the same crime. Rath also faces a misdemeanor count of unlawfully possessing golden eagle parts, and one of unlawfully possessing migratory bird parts.

Matthew Steinbrueck, owner of Raven’s Nest Treasure, told investigators the artists insisted they were tribal members and that he believed them, according to court filings. He said he had no clue they were selling counterfeit Indian products.

“I’ve been doing this on good faith for many years — for more than 30 years,” Steinbrueck told The Associated Press on Friday. “Our whole mission is to represent authentic Native art. We’ve had more than 100 authentic Native artists. I’ve always just taken their word for it.”

 

Matthew Steinbrueck, owner of Raven’s Nest Treasure spoke to investigators about working with both men 

 

Van Dyke, who is also known as Jerry Witten, told investigators it was Steinbrueck’s idea to represent his work as Native American, but Steinbrueck denied that.

Neither Ye Olde Curiosity Shop nor Raven’s Nest has been charged in the case.

Gabriel Galanda, an Indigenous rights attorney in Seattle who belongs to the Round Valley Tribes of Northern California, said shops offering products as Native-produced should be verifying the heritage of the creators.

 “There has to be some diligence done by these galleries,” he told the Associated Press.