A branch of the national Native American Church has accused the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department of violating its constitutional rights in two raids in the last seven months that seized thousands of sacramental marijuana plants used for religious ceremonies.
A lawsuit filed by California Evergreen Farms Native American Church and its 81-year-old founder, James Warren “Flaming Eagle” Mooney, was transferred from state to federal court in early May.
Defendants named in the civil complaint include San Bernardino County, its land use and code enforcement departments, and Sheriff Shannon D. Dicus.
The church alleges its First Amendment rights protecting religious freedom were violated on Nov. 14, 2024, and Jan. 17, 2025, when sheriff’s personnel raided its leased property in the 22000 block of Bryman Road in unincorporated Oro Grande and purportedly destroyed thousands of sacramental pot plants.
The Sheriff’s Department defends the seizures.
“The investigation into the California Evergreen Farms Native American Church resulted in evidence of criminal activity associated with an illegal marijuana cultivation operation where multiple arrests were made, and additional evidence was seized,” the department said in a statement Friday, May 30.
“We will present our case and the evidence before a court and allow the legal process to take its course. The Sheriff’s Department will continue to enforce state and local laws related to criminal activity to ensure the community’s safety in our county.”
San Bernardino County code enforcement officers also were allegedly present during the operation. David Wert, a spokesperson for the county, declined to comment on the lawsuit.
According to the suit, Sheriff’s Department personnel involved in the raids failed to inform the court in obtaining search warrants that a church was the focus of the operations.
The raids have deprived members of California Evergreen Farms of a “core sacrament” and have deterred their participation in religious ceremonies, the suit alleges.
“The prior presence of armed law enforcement at California Evergreen Farms Native American Church’s place of worship instilled fear among members, discouraging attendance at religious gatherings and violating their ability to freely exercise their faith,” the suit states.
The church is seeking recognition of California Evergreen Farms’ right to grow and use sacramental plant medicines, including cannabis, for religious purposes. It also requests an injunction prohibiting further raids, code enforcement actions, and criminal or civil claims against the church and its members.
California Evergreen Farms is affiliated with the Native American Church, which was incorporated in 1918 in the Oklahoma territory and is considered the most widespread religious movement among North America’s indigenous people.
The church’s tenets include Native American beliefs, elements of Christianity, and the ceremonial use of peyote, a cactus containing the hallucinogenic compound mescaline, along with cannabis and other entheogenic sacraments.
“For centuries, native, indigenous (people), and countless others have used these sacred plant medicines as a means of spiritual enlightenment, healing, and divine communion,” the suit states. “The use of these sacraments is fundamental to one’s religious exercise, spiritual healing, and sacred worship practices.”
In 1994, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act was amended to include protections for the possession, transportation, and ingestion of peyote in traditional ceremonies for enrolled citizens of federally recognized tribes.
“Even though federal law is supreme, state governments retain sovereign power to enforce their own criminal statutes, including those governing controlled substances,” said Dan Miller, a Huntington Beach attorney representing California Evergreen Farms. “Long and short of it is federal preemption does not automatically prevent state prosecution — it provides a legal defense that must be asserted and litigated in court.”
Mooney’s involvement with the Native American Church and its use of peyote as a religious sacrament has drawn controversy.
Mooney, a self-described “war chief” and medicine man who has been featured in documentaries and YouTube videos, claims to belong to the Oklevueha Band of Yamassee Seminole Indians, a group that is not federally recognized.
In 2000, police raided Mooney’s Native American Church in Utah and seized more than 12,000 dried peyote buttons, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
He and his wife were arraigned on a dozen counts of drug trafficking and one count of racketeering. They faced life in prison if convicted.
After prosecutors refused to drop drug charges, Mooney and his wife appealed to the Utah Supreme Court. The justices dismissed charges against the Mooneys, ruling they and other church members, regardless of race, legally can use peyote under a federal exemption passed in 1970 and incorporated into Utah law.
Mooney could not be reached for comment.
