Keweenaw Bay Tribal Member Sentenced for Theft of Tribal Property

The Department of Justice reports that Robert Charles Genschow, Sr., 60, of L’Anse, Mich., was sentenced on July 7 to 10 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release, for destroying trees on the Keweenaw Bay Indian reservation. Genschow was also ordered to perform 250 hours of community service and to pay $47,200 in restitution owed to the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community.

Genschow claimed to be Chief Lonewolf of the Ontonagon Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and asserted that, as Chief, he had the right to remove timber from the land in question. During the trial of this case, former Keweenaw Bay Tribal President Susan LaFernier testified that the Ontonagon Band of Lake Superior Chippewa ceased to exist in 1936, when the Band voted to join with the L’Anse Band to create the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community.