Former Paskenta Tribal Leaders Sentenced To Prison

Source:

Department of Justice U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of California - Former Members of Tribal Leadership Sentenced for Multimillion Dollar Embezzlement Scheme

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Three former leaders of the Paskenta Tribe of Nomlaki Indians were sentenced today for a conspiracy to embezzle or steal from a tribal organization, as well as tax fraud and tax evasion offenses, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez sentenced John A. Crosby, 56, of Redding, to four years and nine months in prison and to pay a $10,000 fine; Ines S. Crosby, 76, of Orland, to four years and nine months years in prison; and Leslie A. Lohse, 67, of Glenn, to three years and five months in prison. Lohse has paid $902,208 in restitution prior to today’s sentencing hearing. A hearing will be held on April 19, 2022, to determine the amount of restitution John Crosby and Ines Crosby will pay.

According to court documents, from approximately January 2009 through May 2014, the defendants took millions of dollars from the Paskenta Tribe of Nomlaki Indians without tribal or legal authority, taking advantage of their positions on the Tribal Counsel and in prominent leadership positions in the tribe.

Continue Reading Here -- Department of Justice U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of California - Former Members of Tribal Leadership Sentenced for Multimillion Dollar Embezzlement Scheme

Paskenta Affirms New Leadership

sys-con.com Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians Announces Results of Election for Tribal Council Mandated by Settlement Agreement Between Tribal Factions

Election ends leadership dispute after all Tribal members agreed to recognize results

BY PR NEWSWIRE

CORNING, Calif., Sept. 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Following a record election turnout, with over 92 percent of all adult Tribal members participating, the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians announced today the results of its Tribal Council election.

The members of the Tribe overwhelmingly elected four members of the Tribal Council which include: Latisha Miller – Vice-Chairperson, Andrew Alejandre – Secretary, Ambrosia Rico – Treasurer, and Natasha Magana – Member-at-large. The Chairman of the Tribe, Andrew Freeman, who is recognized by both groups who participated in the election, holds a term that ends in September 2016. The election ends the leadership of Leslie Lohse and her family's control over the Rolling Hills Casino and other tribal assets. The certified results of the election were: 138 votes for the winning slate, and 61 votes for the slate led by Lohse.

"I'm so pleased that the Nomlaki People had such strong voter turnout and exercised true democracy by electing its Tribal leadership," said Chairman Andrew Freeman, who was supported by both groups running for Tribal Council.  "This is a new era of Tribal leadership that promises financial integrity in its governance and financial transparency to all Tribal members to ensure all can share in the benefits of the various Tribal Enterprises."

Read Full Press Release Here-->sys-con.com Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians Announces Results of Election for Tribal Council Mandated by Settlement Agreement Between Tribal Factions

Other Articles:

chicoer.com Paskenta tribe votes to keep new leaders

sacbee.com Embattled Northern California tribe elects four members to tribal council

***WARNING*** 

Chairman Robert Smith, Chairman of the Pala Band of Mission Indians, Pala Band of Luiseno Indians, Pala Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of the Pala Reservation, is monitoring your comments.  He is going to track your IP address and "take action" against any tribal member posting comments he does not like.

Paskenta Completes Audit

I recommend everyone read the entire article.  I will post a couple of excerpts here.

Audit finds Corning tribe mismanaged millions in casino funds

By Sam Stanton
sstanton@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Sep. 2, 2014 - 10:17 pm
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The document, which was obtained by The Sacramento Bee and secured with a program that prevented it from being printed out or copied, details spending by council officials that raised questions about home improvements; at least one trip to Disneyland; trips by Lohse to watch her son Kyle pitch in the 2011 World Series for the St. Louis Cardinals; purchase of floor-level Sacramento Kings season tickets and tickets to the 2010 Masters golf tournament; and other items.

“Although the senior tribal administrators claimed that most of their spending was for reasonable business purposes, our inquiry suggests that serious questions exist about whether substantial amounts of tribal funds were actually spent for the senior tribal administrators’ personal benefit,” the audit states.

The auditors added that because of poor or, in some cases, nonexistent bookkeeping records and the refusal of some officials to cooperate with the audit, it is difficult to determine with accuracy the state of tribal spending.

However, the audit found a number of expenses that raised questions, including:

•  $93 million in investments over the last 12 years in companies, real estate or gold that were made without any comprehensive investment strategy. “Many of these ventures were unproven, high-risk, start-up companies,” the audit said. Crosby flatly rejected that finding. “A lot of these investments are long-term,” he said. “Was Apple successful right away?”

•  Excessive overhead and compensation over the last dozen years that ate up at least $61 million of the $191 million left over after tribal members were paid their distributions. (The audit said reviewers were unable to account for about $10 million in spending).

•  Payments of $819,000 to senior administrators for serving on the boards of tribal entities that the audit said were made without tribal council discussion or approval.

•  A penchant for travel that included using the private jet for dozens of short hops between Chico and Redding or Corning and Sacramento, instead of driving at much less expense. Other trips “appear to have been partially or wholly personal,” the audit found, including 134 flights to Glendale, Ariz., by the Lohse family over a 32-month span (a Lohse son and his family live in Glendale, the audit said); and 40 flights by the Crosby family to Provo, Utah, over a 28-month period (Crosby’s daughter attended college in Provo, the audit said). Crosby said frequent trips are the nature of economic development efforts and that they were for business interests.

Read Full Article Here -->Audit finds Corning tribe mismanaged millions in casino funds

***WARNING*** 

Chairman Robert Smith, Chairman of the Pala Band of Mission Indians, Pala Band of Luiseno Indians, Pala Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of the Pala Reservation, is monitoring your comments.  He is going to track your IP address and "take action" against any tribal member posting comments he does not like.

Leadership and Membership Changes at Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians

The Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians is a member of the California Tribal Business Alliance.  The other two member tribes are Pala and the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians.  The Chair of CTBA is Leslie Lohse who is also treasurer of the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians of California.

Seems there has been a shakeup at Paskenta.  Some were disenrolled.  Their entire council was removed except Chairman Andy Freeman who is keeping his position.

Action News Now - A major shake-up has taken place within the tribe that owns Rolling Hills Casino in Corning

Excerpt:

A little more than 100 members showed up for the meeting (April 12th), but nearly half, including one tribal leader, were asked to leave by Tribal Chair Andy Freeman.

“It bothered him and a lot of things were brought to his attention and he acted on it,” said Tribe Treasurer Ambrosia Rico.

What bothered Freeman is that there were members of the “Henthorne/Pata” family not meeting the criteria for tribal membership.

The criteria is to have direct ancestral lineage to the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians.

Other current tribal members and operators of Rolling Hills tell us they do not know how this family became part of this band around the time Rolling Hills Casino was built.

Their application was denied twice by an expert in anthropologic and genealogy investigations and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Read More Here - Action News Now - A major shake-up has taken place within the tribe that owns Rolling Hills Casino in Corning

Also:

Action News Now - Rolling Hills Casino's governing body going through "tribal transition"