- Details
- By Tribal Business News Staff
- Policy and Law
A federal judge has sentenced a former senior employee of the Spokane Tribe of Indians to more than a year in prison for embezzling funds intended to support children in tribal foster care, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Washington.
On Jan. 21, U.S. District Judge Rebecca L. Pennell sentenced Tawhnee Willow Colvin, of Davenport, Washington, to one year and one day in prison after a jury convicted her on 26 counts of bank fraud and embezzlement from a tribal organization. Colvin was also ordered to serve five years of supervised release and to pay $100,830 in restitution to the Spokane Tribe.
Colvin was convicted following a September 2025 trial. Prosecutors said she was employed as assistant director of the Spokane Tribe’s Department of Health and Human Services and its Division of Child and Family Services, where she had access to a bank account holding per capita funds designated for children in the tribe’s temporary custody.
Between October 2019 and November 2023, Colvin made more than 70 unauthorized transfers from the account to her personal bank account and withdrew cash, prosecutors said. The transfers escalated over time and totaled more than $100,000. Authorities said Colvin continued to move funds even after the tribe terminated her employment in October 2023.
During sentencing, Judge Pennell said the evidence showed Colvin diverted money intended to support children in foster care for her own use.
“In an egregious breach of trust and solely for her own personal interest, Ms. Colvin exploited her position … to steal thousands of dollars from vulnerable children over a period of years,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Pete Serrano said in a statement.
The FBI investigated the case, which was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Frieda K. Zimmerman and Jeremy J. Kelley.
