The
U.S. Attorney in
Montana has filed a new indictment against five people accused of stealing from the
Chippewa Cree Tribe.
Originally, six people were charged in the case. But federal prosecutors abruptly withdrew all charges against John “Chance” Houle, who was sitting on the tribal council at the time of the indictment.
Prosecutors also dropped some charges against the five remaining defendants. They will now face four charges: conspiracy to embezzle federal grant and contract funds, theft from an Indian tribal government receiving federal funding and two bribery counts, the Associated Press reported.
The tribe received $33 million from the
American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act as part of a $361 million pipeline project. Authorities
say hundreds of thousands of dollars were diverted to Tony Belcourt, the CEO of
Chippewa Cree Construction
Corp., a tribal company.
"As far as we can tell, they're just cleaning up their case a little bit, and we're confident we can prevail on the merits," Chuck Watson, Tony Belcourt's attorney, told the AP.
Get the Story:
New charges for 5 accused of stealing stimulus aid
(AP 10/2)
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