{"id":268463,"date":"2023-04-11T19:36:10","date_gmt":"2023-04-12T00:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=268463"},"modified":"2023-04-12T12:14:05","modified_gmt":"2023-04-12T17:14:05","slug":"jamul-casino-cemetery-damage-linked-to-church-abuse-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/jamul-casino-cemetery-damage-linked-to-church-abuse-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"Jamul Casino Cemetery \u2018Destruction\u2019 Linked to Catholic Church Fraud, Sex-Abuse Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"

Concerns that the expansion of the Jamul Casino near San Diego, Calif. could be disturbing a nearby historic cemetery have taken a fresh twist.<\/p>\n

\"Jamul
The Jamul Casino, above, opened in 2016 and has always been dogged by controversy. Critics say current expansion plans could harm the cemetery that was deeded to the tribe by the Catholic Diocese of San Diego in 2017. (Image: JIV)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A lawsuit accuses the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego of fraud. It also claims the diocese transferred the cemetery to tribal casino operator the Jamul Indian Village (JIV) in 2017 as part of a wider scheme to avoid paying compensation for historic child sex-abuse claims.<\/p>\n

The suit claims the diocese moved land and property worth more than $450 million to dummy companies to keep it out of the reach of the victims of pedophile priests.<\/p>\n

The complaint was filed by the Zalkin law firm last month on behalf of victims.<\/p>\n

The diocese admitted earlier this year it’s facing \u201cstaggering legal costs\u201d from hundreds of sex-abuse lawsuits and could be forced to seek bankruptcy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The lawsuit also alleges that the diocese may have transferred the cemetery to the tribe in an \u201cattempt to avoid liability for desecration of remains and funerary objects interred\u201d there.<\/p>\n

Controversial Casino <\/strong><\/h2>\n

In 2016, JIV opened its $360 million casino<\/a> near the burial ground. At the time the diocese transferred the land, JIV was facing lawsuits from other tribal members in relation to the impact of the casino\u2019s construction on the cemetery.<\/p>\n

Diocese spokesperson Kevin Eckery told CBS 8<\/em> this week that the Church gave the land to JIV simply because it was the right thing to do.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe did the right thing in turning over native American burial area essentially to the native American tribe that’s already taking care of the property,\u201d he said, adding that the Church knew nothing about the casino\u2019s expansion.<\/p>\n

Hard Life<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Up until the 1970s, tribal members lived on the cemetery itself in basic homes without electricity or plumbing.<\/p>\n

In 1975, JIV was granted federal recognition as an official band of Kumeyaay Indians. This allowed the tribe to acquire tribal land of its own so they could, eventually, build the casino.<\/p>\n

The Jamal Casino was controversial from the word go and has been fiercely opposed by local, nontribal residents, as well as some tribal members.<\/p>\n

To make way for the casino, the tribe had to completely move out of the village. In 2007,\u00a0 three nontribal residents of the village who opposed the casino were forcefully evicted.<\/p>\n

This week, Glenn Ravell, president of local residents\u2019 group the Jamul Action Committee (JAC), told CBS 8<\/em> the tribe\u2019s plan to add a new event center, 16-story hotel tower, and a six-story parking structure to the casino will damage the cemetery.<\/p>\n

The contractor is currently boring 120 soil nails, those are horizontal nails that go 35 feet west into an area that will certainly encroach on funeral objects and may encroach on people buried there,”<\/strong> Ravell said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIt’s the JIV who, amongst any of us in San Diego County who might be sympathetic to the sacredness of this burial ground, you might expect it to be other Native Americans. And yet that doesn’t seem to matter,” he added.<\/p>\n

Ravell\u2019s organization has been chided by a federal judge for legally harassing JIV<\/a>. In court filings, JAC has called the tribe a \u201chalf-blood Indian community,\u201d\u00a0that is \u201cnot a historic tribe with inherent sovereign authority.\u201d<\/p>\n

These claims have been dismissed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Concerns that the expansion of the Jamul Casino near San Diego, Calif. could be disturbing a nearby historic cemetery have taken a fresh twist. A lawsuit accuses the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego of fraud. It also claims the diocese transferred the cemetery to tribal casino operator the Jamul Indian Village (JIV) in 2017 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":268464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,60,18456],"tags":[85821,85820,85822],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nJamul Casino Cemetery Damage Linked to Church Abuse Claims<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jamul Indian Village (VIJ) cemetery was given to tribe by Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego to avoid sex abuse claims, says lawsuit.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/jamul-casino-cemetery-damage-linked-to-church-abuse-claims\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jamul Casino Cemetery Damage Linked to Church Abuse Claims\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jamul Indian Village (VIJ) cemetery was given to tribe by Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego to avoid sex abuse claims, says lawsuit.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/jamul-casino-cemetery-damage-linked-to-church-abuse-claims\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-12T00:36:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-12T17:14:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Jamul.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"565\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/jamul-casino-cemetery-damage-linked-to-church-abuse-claims\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/jamul-casino-cemetery-damage-linked-to-church-abuse-claims\/\",\"name\":\"Jamul Casino Cemetery Damage Linked to Church Abuse Claims\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/jamul-casino-cemetery-damage-linked-to-church-abuse-claims\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/jamul-casino-cemetery-damage-linked-to-church-abuse-claims\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Jamul.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-12T00:36:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-12T17:14:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Jamul Indian Village (VIJ) cemetery was given to tribe by Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego to avoid sex abuse claims, says lawsuit.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/jamul-casino-cemetery-damage-linked-to-church-abuse-claims\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/jamul-casino-cemetery-damage-linked-to-church-abuse-claims\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/jamul-casino-cemetery-damage-linked-to-church-abuse-claims\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Jamul.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Jamul.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":565,\"caption\":\"The Jamul Casino, above, opened in 2016, but it has always been dogged by controversy. Critics say current expansion plans could harm the cemetery gifted to the tribe by the Catholic Diocese of San Diego in 2017. (Image: JIV)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/jamul-casino-cemetery-damage-linked-to-church-abuse-claims\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Tribal Gaming\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribal-gaming\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Jamul Casino Cemetery \u2018Destruction\u2019 Linked to Catholic Church Fraud, Sex-Abuse Claims\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Jamul Casino Cemetery Damage Linked to Church Abuse Claims","description":"Jamul Indian Village (VIJ) cemetery was given to tribe by Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego to avoid sex abuse claims, says lawsuit.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/jamul-casino-cemetery-damage-linked-to-church-abuse-claims\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Jamul Casino Cemetery Damage Linked to Church Abuse Claims","og_description":"Jamul Indian Village (VIJ) cemetery was given to tribe by Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego to avoid sex abuse claims, says lawsuit.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/jamul-casino-cemetery-damage-linked-to-church-abuse-claims\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2023-04-12T00:36:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-04-12T17:14:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":565,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Jamul.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/jamul-casino-cemetery-damage-linked-to-church-abuse-claims\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/jamul-casino-cemetery-damage-linked-to-church-abuse-claims\/","name":"Jamul Casino Cemetery Damage Linked to Church Abuse Claims","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/jamul-casino-cemetery-damage-linked-to-church-abuse-claims\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/jamul-casino-cemetery-damage-linked-to-church-abuse-claims\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Jamul.jpg","datePublished":"2023-04-12T00:36:10+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-12T17:14:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"Jamul Indian Village (VIJ) cemetery was given to tribe by Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego to avoid sex abuse claims, says lawsuit.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/jamul-casino-cemetery-damage-linked-to-church-abuse-claims\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/jamul-casino-cemetery-damage-linked-to-church-abuse-claims\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/jamul-casino-cemetery-damage-linked-to-church-abuse-claims\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Jamul.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Jamul.jpg","width":1000,"height":565,"caption":"The Jamul Casino, above, opened in 2016, but it has always been dogged by controversy. Critics say current expansion plans could harm the cemetery gifted to the tribe by the Catholic Diocese of San Diego in 2017. (Image: JIV)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/jamul-casino-cemetery-damage-linked-to-church-abuse-claims\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Tribal Gaming","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribal-gaming\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Jamul Casino Cemetery \u2018Destruction\u2019 Linked to Catholic Church Fraud, Sex-Abuse Claims"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268463"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}