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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A would-be leader of the Skull Valley Band of Goshutes must repay a Utah bank the $17,300 he pilfered from a tribal bank account, a federal judge ordered Friday.
Sammy Blackbear has admitted using the money from the Zions Bank account for his own benefit, not that of the tribe. The theft stemmed from a larger, ongoing dispute over tribal leadership.
Blackbear pleaded guilty to one count of theft of assets from an Indian tribal organization in March. He and three others used a fake court order to consolidate almost $1.4 million from accounts at multiple banks into one.
The theft took place after a 2001 tribal election, in which Blackbear, Marlinda Moon and Miranda Wash said they had been elected tribal leaders. The trio is part of a faction of tribal members who oppose current Skull Valley Goshutes Band Chairman Leon Bear. The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs never recognized the election.
Moon and Wash have pleaded not guilty to federal charges and are set for trials in September. Also awaiting a September trial is tribal attorney Duncan Steadman, whom prosecutors say fabricated the court orders used to access tribal accounts.
Blackbear will be sentenced Sept. 13. He faces up to five years in federal prison and as much as $250,000 in fines in addition to the restitution order imposed Friday by U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell.
Blackbear could have faced more time, but in exchange for a guilty plea and for help in prosecuting a separate tax fraud case against tribal chairman Bear, prosecutors reduced their original charges.
Bear was sentenced last month to three years probation and ordered to pay back taxes, as well as more than $30,000 in restitution for embezzling tribal funds. He continues to serve as chair of the 171-member tribe which makes its home in the desert west of Salt Lake City.
Blackbear's attorney, David Finlayson, said his client re-deposited some of the money taken into tribal accounts and used portions of it to pay the tribe's bills. But he also said Blackbear had used about $10,000 for personal travel expenses and attorneys fees for work not related to tribal matters.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
