SENECA FALLS, N.Y. -- The Cayuga Nation Council seized and knocked down several buildings Saturday in Seneca Falls.

The council led by Clint Halftown, the Cayuga Nation’s federal representative, said it took back property that had been seized by an opposing faction in 2014. Some of the people who were kicked off of the properties also claim to lead the nation, the council said in a news release.

Control of some of the properties that were razed -- including a gas station, daycare center and an ice cream stand -- have been under dispute for years as two factions have grappled to lead the nation.

“The Cayuga Nation...chose today to demolish certain buildings that it owned on these properties,” the council said. “It did so to eliminate certain public safety issues, and it does not want these buildings to become a target for any further friction in the community going forward.”

The opposing faction that controlled the buildings since 2014, the traditional Cayuga Nation Chiefs and Clan Mothers, called Saturday’s destruction of the buildings “viciously unlawful," in a statement from their counsel, Joe Heath.

Halftown’s faction filed a suit in state court to force the opposing faction off of nation-owned businesses in Seneca Falls. However, the state Court of Appeals declined in late October to force the opposing faction off of the disputed properties, ruling the court does not have jurisdiction to settle the property dispute.

Four months later, Halftown’s faction seized the properties it had a sued to control.

“Today, the Cayuga Nation has employed tribal law to detain persons who have violated that law, and the Nation has retaken possession of its properties,” the council said.

The nation’s new police force searched the properties, the council said, and seized drugs, guns and ammunition. One person was charged with possession of a substance suspected to be methamphetamine, the council said, and was arraigned by Cayuga Nation Judge Joseph Fahey.

The case will be handled in the nation’s new criminal court, the council said.

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