Investigation of Theft of Individual Indian Money Account

We received an allegation in March 2015 from a Fiduciary Trust Officer, U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST), that Danelle Newman illegally obtained and sold her mother’s tribal trust lands and negotiated a Cobell Settlement check belonging to her mother. 

 

Our investigation found that Newman devised a scheme to defraud her mother of her tribal trust lands by adding herself to her mother’s Individual Indian Money Account and obtaining a debit card in her mother’s name. We also found that Newman forged her mother’s signature on three deeds for land parcels belonging to her mother and sold the parcels to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. OST subsequently electronically transferred $22,372.62 to her mother's debit card for the fraudulent sale. 

 

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Dakota accepted the case for prosecution. Newman pled guilty to mail fraud, was sentenced to 50 months’ probation, and ordered to pay $23,246.95 in restitution. In August 2016, all of Newman's mother’s tribal trust lands were returned to her trust inventory.

 

This is a summary of a report of investigation that was issued to OST for information.