- Details
- By Chez Oxendine
- Policy and Law
Two senior officials serving the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Tribe’s housing authority have been charged with embezzling more than $250,000 in funding.
Sisseton Wahpeton Housing Authority Executive Director Eric Shepherd and Chief Financial Officer Olivia Locke were charged July 10 in federal court, per public court records. Both face charges of conspiracy to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds and conspiracy to commit theft from an Indian tribal organization. Federal prosecutors allege the pair knowingly issued unauthorized checks and used the proceeds for personal purposes.
According to the indictment, Shepherd and Locke created and cashed checks payable to themselves from three tribal accounts between 2019 and 2024. Those accounts belong to the housing authority, the Dakota Nation Development Corporation and the I-29 Motel, all entities under the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate.
Prosecutors say Shepherd took $165,699.08, while Locke is accused of taking $99,768.42.
Both defendants appeared in court last week and pleaded not guilty at their arraignments, according to KELOLAND News. Both were released on bond pending trial.
The defendants are scheduled to appear for further proceedings in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota’s Northern Division. A court date has not been set.
The embezzlement case comes three months after judges refused to lessen the sentence of Kayline Joy LaBelle, former treasurer for the Buffalo Lake District of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Sioux Reservation, in April. LaBelle was sentenced to 60 months in prison in September 2023 as a result of writing nearly 500 unauthorized checks, delivering $203,283 to herself, friends, and relatives.
