The San Juan County sheriff says federal agents pointed guns at nearly everyone they arrested there during last month's artifacts raids and made "smart ass" remarks.
Sheriff Mike Lacy said an FBI characterization of the raid is "100 percent wrong." The FBI agent in charge for Utah has said his agents pointed a gun at one person to gain compliance.
But Lacy on Thursday said up to 14 of the 18 San Juan County residents arrested or served during the raid had a gun pointed at them.
Much of the gun pointing was done by U.S. Bureau of Land Management agents, said Lacy, whose brother was among those arrested. Perhaps 150 BLM agents participated in the raids, Lacy said, and they spurred most of the citizen complaints.
BLM agents made "smart ass" remarks to the defendants and others, Lacy said, and treated the arrests as though they were major criminals. He did not elaborate, saying his investigation is continuing. The investigation is aimed at finding what happened during the raids and making formal complaints to federal authorities.
The FBI and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder have defended the tactics by saying federal procedures require shackling and other precautions to ensure the safety of agents and defendants. One defendant had told an undercover informant he would shoot it out with police trying to arrest him.
Lacy and other elected officials in San Juan County have argued federal agents showed and used too much force against people accused of nonviolent offenses. Most of those arrested have no criminal history.
"All this could have been handled by summonses or [federal agents] could have come talk to me," Lacy said. "I could have gone into any of these homes and not needed a gun."
In all, 24 people were charged in federal court with crimes related to the looting of American Indian artifacts from public lands and reservations. Federal agents arrived at homes early on June 10 to serve warrants and search homes.
One defendants suffered broken toes during his arrest and nearly everyone was placed in shackles and taken to Moab for an arraignment.
A BLM spokesperson in Salt Lake City did not return a late afternoon phone call seeking comment.
