In exchange, the U.S. Attorney's Office agreed to drop five bank-fraud charges against Sammy Blackbear that could have led to prison sentences of up to 185 years and penalties of up to $5.25 million for Blackbear and three other defendants who are being prosecuted separately.
Blackbear's sentencing hearing was scheduled for July 14 after he pleaded guilty to the single count. Prosecutors had sought a guilty plea to misusing $25,000 but during a court hearing Monday agreed to the lesser charge, which is still a felony.
The amount Blackbear must repay will be determined at a June 16 restitution hearing.
Blackbear, Marlinda Moon, Miranda Wash and their attorney, Duncan Steadman, were charged in December 2003 with embezzlement and bank fraud after they used what prosecutors alleged were bogus legal documents to take control of nearly $1.4 million in tribal funds that were held at Zions Bank, Brighton Bank and Bank One.
The three Goshutes insist they were elected the Skull Valley Band's chairman, vice chairman and secretary at a Sept. 22, 2001, tribal meeting.
The charges have no direct ties to plans by utility consortium Private Fuel Storage to build a $3.1 billion high-level nuclear waste storage facility on the Goshute reservation 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. But they stem from the leadership dispute that erupted after Leon Bear and two other tribal members in 1997 signed a confidential lease with PFS.
Blackbear contends Bear never was elected tribal leader. Blackbear has said that as the legitimate tribal leader, he had a right to move the funds to prevent Bear from spending them.
Prosecutors originally said the banks allowed the defendants access to the Goshute accounts after they proffered a phony election certification and a court order from the "Nato Indian nation," a Provo-based group that claims to be a nationwide tribe. The defendants were able to withdraw $45,800 from one account and gave attorney Steadman $11,000 before the accounts were frozen.
The original indictment said the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs didn't recognize the tribal leadership change that put Blackbear in charge and declared the defendants didn't have the authority to act on behalf of the tribe. The government's dismissal of those charges against Blackbear could indicate a growing unwillingness to back Bear's leadership.
Defense attorney Dave Finlayson, who represented Blackbear on Monday, said his understanding of the plea deal was that Blackbear would assist the federal government in the criminal case against Bear as well as the remaining prosecution of Moon, Wash and Steadman.
After the hearing, Blackbear declined to comment on his plea. But another dissident Goshute, Margene Bullcreek, was displeased.
"I don't think Sammy should take any plea bargain," said Bullcreek, who attended the hearing. "He's messing things up. He's taking the easy way out."
Blackbear was the lead plaintiff in a case pending before the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that accuses the BIA of supporting an illegitimate tribal government headed by Bear, who was indicted separately on embezzlement and tax charges in December 2003. Bear is scheduled for a two-week trial on those charges beginning April 18.
The 10th Circuit last year rebuffed Blackbear's appeal, agreeing with a lower court ruling that the dissidents couldn't pursue court action until the BIA finished with administrative appeals. Those appeals were dismissed in January.
Bullcreek and five other tribal members three weeks ago filed a lawsuit in federal court against the federal Interior Department, Interior Secretary Gale Norton and two Bureau of Indian Affairs superintendents.
The lawsuit charges that the federal government acted illegally when it gave conditional approval to plans for a high-level nuclear waste facility on the reservation in spite of the ongoing leadership dispute. The lawsuit also contends the BIA acted illegally when it recognized Bear as tribal leader.
