More set to plead in Rocky Boy cases

More defendants accused of fraud and embezzlement at Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation have agreed to plead guilty, including the wife of a former state representative and former Chippewa Cree Tribe council member.

Her husband and co-defendant, Chippewa Cree Construction Corp. CEO Tony Belcourt, had not entered a deal as of this morning, according to court records.

Hailey Belcourt filed a request for U.S. District Judge Brian Morris to remove her from trial and set a date for a change-of-plea hearing in a case alleging she and her husband conspired with Hunter Burns and James Howard Eastlick Jr., partners in Hunter Burns Construction, to award contracts in the construction of a regional water project to Hunter Burns Construction. In return, the indictment says, Eastlick and Burns paid bribes to the Belcourts.

Hailey Belcourt’s motion also references two new indictments filed this year which the federal government has not yet unsealed.

In federal court, indictments remain sealed until the defendant is arraigned. If any co-defendants were indicted in the new case, their names will not be released until the indictments are unsealed.

Eastlick Jr., a psychologist at Rocky Boy and a former CEO of its health board, has asked to plead guilty to charges in that or another case that alleges he, Burns and Tony Belcourt conspired to file false claims about Hunter Burns Construction’s work. Eastlick’s motion references other charges against him that the government has not filed yet.

Burns has agreed to plead guilty to the first charge of the fraudulent claim case, in exchange for the government dropping the other charges in that indictment and the charges in the conspiracy to defraud and embezzle case.

The plea agreement says he agrees to pay $100,000 in restitution.

Morris scheduled change of plea hearings, for April 1 for Eastlick and April 2 for both Hailey Belcourt and Burns.

Belcourt’s arraignment on the two new indictments also is scheduled for that day.

Charges against Belcourt and her husband still are pending in two other cases, including one also charging Eastlick Jr.’s father, sister and brother-in-law, James Howard Eastlick and Tammy and Mark Leischner, all of Laurel. They are accused of conspiring to embezzle money allocated through the federal recovery act for construction of a regional pipeline.

Chippewa Cree Construction is the lead contractor in that project.

Charges against Shad Huston and Tony and Hailey Belcourt also still are pending in a case alleging the three conspired to embezzle money allocated to reconstructing the flood-destroyed Rocky Boy Clinic.

A separate case alleging Wilford Harlan “Huck” Sunchild stole money while working at the wellness center at the Rocky Boy clinic still is pending.

Another defendant, Garcia Duran, pleaded guilty in December. Duran, a supply technician for the health board at Rocky Boy at the time, pleaded guilty to a charge of theft from a health care facility stemming from accusations he purchased goods and services for his personal use and billed the Health Board between August 2009 and February 2010. This month, Morris sentenced him to three years probation and ordered him to pay $7,674.43 in restitution and a $100 special assessment.

Charges against Fawn Tadios still are pending. Tadios is accused of embezzlement while CEO of the health board and clinic including stealing money to pay for trips to visit her husband, Raymond “Jake” Parker, while in a federal prison camp for embezzling from the tribe while chair of the tribal council.