BOSTON (AP) – The chairman of the tribe seeking to build a $1 billion casino in Massachusetts stepped down from his daily duties Friday after a published report revealed he was a convicted rapist and had lied to Congress about his military service during Vietnam.

Glenn Marshall had been the Mashpee Wampanoag’s public face during much of its journey to win federal recognition, which was granted in February, and its push to open the first casino in the state.

He issued a statement Friday acknowledging he let misstatements about his service stand. The statement said nothing about the rape conviction. He said he was giving up day-to-day duties to “deal with the mental and physical issues I’m facing.”

The Cape Cod Times, citing its own archives and court records, reported that Marshall was convicted in 1981 of raping a 22-year-old visitor to the Cape. Marshall was accused of sexually assaulting the woman in a secluded spot in West Barnstable after offering to drive her from a party to her sister’s house.

Marshall, 57, was sentenced to five years in state prison, but served just three months before being released on probation, court records show.

During his sentencing, Marshall’s attorney referred to Marshall’s military service in Vietnam in a bid for leniency.

“He underwent harrowing experiences while the rest of us were enjoying peace and quiet here at home,” attorney Frederick Mycock told the judge, according to the Times’ archives. Mycock did not return a call from The Associated Press seeking comment Friday.

Charles McDonald, a spokesman for the state’s Sex Offender Registry Board said Friday that Marshall was not in the board’s database of offenders. “We are reviewing the facts of this case. If it is determined that he has an obligation to register, he will be so notified,” McDonald said.

The Times report also raised questions about Marshall’s military record, including how much action he saw in Vietnam.

During a congressional oversight hearing on the tribe’s request for federal recognition in 2004, Marshall testified he survived the siege of Khe Sahn, during which Marines fought back a 77-day onslaught by the North Vietnamese from January to April of 1968.

Marshall made the same claim in a Cape Cod Times interview in 1998 and before a state gaming panel in 2002.

But during the siege, Marshall was still a senior in high school in Falmouth. School records confirm he graduated from Lawrence High School on June 9, 1968, a school spokeswoman said.

“I am proud of my service in the Vietnam War and stand by the service I provided for my country during that horrific period of history,” he said in the statement. “Like others who were part of the war, the years that followed my service are not something I’m proud of. I am proud of the rehabilitation and turnaround in my life following those years, and am proud of what the Tribe has accomplished. I am sorry to have distorted my record and to allow it to stand uncorrected.”

He went on to add: “Like a lot of veterans from that era, I realize I have my own demons that I need to deal with.”

Vice chairman Shawn Hendricks, who will assume Marshall’s daily duties, said work would continue in Marshall’s absence to bring casino gaming to Massachusetts. He plans next week to file an application to take land into trust in Mashpee and Middleborough.

“It has been through Glenn’s leadership the Tribe has realized federal recognition and all that comes with it. That work will continue,” he said.

Marshall did not return calls by The Associated Press to his home and office Friday. Members of the Wampanoag Tribal Council also did not return calls seeking comment.

Middleborough selectman Adam Bond, who helped negotiate the contract to host a casino with the tribe, said he was not concerned the revelations would harm the plans.

“He wasn’t in the room at the time of the negotiation,” Bond told The Associated Press. “We were negotiating with a tribe and a set of backers.”

The tribe and its financial backers own or have ownership rights of 530 acres in Middleborough, where residents last month approved a deal with the tribe that would pay the town $11 million a year and give it $250 million for infrastructure improvements should a casino be built.

But casino opponent Richard Young, president of casinofacts.org, said: “Mr. Marshall came to town and made a variety of promises to the town, but given that he lied about his military record I question whether any of the promises will come true.”

The Legislature still needs to approve expanded gambling before a full-scale casino can be built. Gov. Deval Patrick, who made a surprise visit to Mashpee when the tribe celebrated its federal recognition, has said he would announce his gambling position around Labor Day.

Patrick declined to comment Friday on whether Marshall’s announcement would affect his decision, spokeswoman Cyndi Roy said.

The Times began researching Marshall’s military record after an interview he gave last week in which he told the Times he served around the globe between 1966 and 1972, including time in Vietnam, Panama, Cuba, Japan and the Philippines. He said he was partly inspired by John Wayne in the movie “Sands of Iwo Jima.”

On Thursday, a Marine spokeswoman said Marshall served just 23 months in the military, and was based in Danang, not Khe Sahn, during his four months in Vietnam. He received the National Defense Service Medal and Vietnam Service Medal with one star, the Marine spokeswoman said.

—

Associated Press Writer Ken Maguire contributed to this report.

AP-ES-08-24-07 1736EDT