Judge Lewis revokes Lisa Cypress’ bond

By Linda Cicoira

Lisa Renia Cypress announced last week in documents filed in Northampton Circuit Court that the 51 fraud indictments brought against her in May of 2024 are a blatant act of judicial terrorism and should be dismissed.

The 59-year-old further said that as the first trustee for the Accomack-Powhattan Indian Nation and a member of Virginia’s Gingaskin Tribe, she would not be participating in the “unconstitutional proceedings,” including a trial that was scheduled for July 8 and 9, the dates for which she had previously agreed.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Jack Thornton filed a motion to revoke the woman’s bond.  Judge Lynwood W. Lewis Jr. heard his argument Monday after sending bailiffs out in the hall to see if Cypress was in attendance. She wasn’t to be found. The judge revoked the bond and ordered a capias for her arrest.

Cypress, a registered nurse who lives in Decatur, Georgia, had written that there was a “lack of evidence, abuse of process, human rights violations, systemic racial bias, misuse of statute, and legal fraud in their entity.” In the filing, she asked that the motion be struck.

She was set free soon after being arrested and has stalled the case several times with continuances and changes in legal counsel.

Cypress insists that she owns local lands. She was unsuccessful in claiming Indiantown Park and a PNC Bank parcel near Eastville in the U.S. District Court in 2023.

The indictments brought against her involve maliciously filing liens or encumbrances for those two properties and the $4.4 million Eyre Hall farm, the historic 1765 Eyreville brick house and property, Smith Beach parcels, the $3.1 million Hermitage Farm, parcels in the Bay Creek development in Cape Charles, Bayside Village parcels, Pocahontas Farm, and the former Rosenwald School, in Cape Charles, which is owned by a restoration initiative.

She was also indicted on counts of conspiring to file the fraudulent claims and soliciting another to file them.

Cypress was arrested for the sealed indictments after being stopped for failure to obey a lane marking. It appears she was visiting Virginia when she was detained and taken to the Eastern Shore Regional Jail. It was a $10,000 secured bond that was revoked Monday.

According to court records, she told a magistrate, “This is not fraud because she has a land patent for the property.”

Twenty of the charges involve property at Smith Beach owned by THS Family Limited Partnership whose registered agent is James C. Smith Jr. There were two charges involving the property where Bay Creek’s clubhouse and pro shop are located, and a $4.6 million Townfield Drive parcel owned by Sun Cherrystone RV LLC.

The charges did not disclose who she is suspected of conspiring with or who she is suspected of soliciting. The incidents occurred in November, January, February, and April.

Federal Judge Elizabeth W. Hanes dismissed the case against the Northampton Board of Supervisors and PNC Bank in March 2023, saying Cypress did “not adequately allege that she ‘has good title and the right to possession of the property.” PNC Bank purchased its land in 1973, five decades ago. The judge said state law “clearly states any person who seeks to bring an action to recover land must do so within 15 years.”

Cypress alleged that “in 1640, the English government issued a patent ‘that set aside land for the Accomac Indians,’ who later ‘became known as the Gingaskins.’” In 1813, the Virginia General Assembly passed a law that terminated the Gingaskin reservation and divided the land, with deeds going to surviving tribe members.

    An appeal of the case ended with the court upholding the initial judgment in favor of the supervisors and the bank.