Cromwell, DeQuattro plead not guilty to bribe, extortion, tax charges
BOSTON — Cedric Cromwell, former tribal council chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, and David DeQuattro, owner of a Rhode Island architectural firm that worked with the tribe, pleaded not guilty Thursday during their arraignment in U.S. District Court on charges of bribery and extortion, and, for Cromwell, filing false tax returns.
Cromwell, a 55-year-old Attleboro resident, was charged in March with four counts of filing a false tax return on top of other charges of bribery and extortion from November. He and DeQuattro were each indicted by a federal grand jury in November on two counts of accepting or paying bribes as an agent of an Indian tribal government, and one count of conspiring to commit bribery. Cromwell was also indicted then on four counts of extortion under color of official right and one count of conspiring to commit extortion.