Huston enters plea in one case

Shad James Huston, who this year withdrew from a guilty plea to embezzling funds from Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation, pleaded guilty Friday to a charge of failure to file currency transaction reports.

Huston, a Havre business operator and former chair of the Havre Public School Board reported that his former business, a pawn shop, engaged in an exchange of currency of more than $10,000. At that point, a pawn shop would file a currency transaction report.

Huston told investigators he may had filed two or three of these reports, but none were found.

Between June 2009 and September 2011, Huston cashed 19 checks of $10,000 or more and three for Hailey Belcourt totalling $20,000. Hailey Belcourt is the wife of Tony Belcourt. Both pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and embezzlement and were sentenced.

In August, Huston withdrew his guilty plea of failure to file currency transaction reports, bribery, conspiracy to embezzle monies belonging to an Indian tribal organization and theft from an Indian organization.

He and his previous lawyer, Michael Sherwood, maintained that the nature of the former plea was not understood and they wanted to retract the guilty plea.

Huston’s sentencing is set Dec. 16, at the Missouri River Federal Courthouse in Great Falls.

He is scheduled to go to trial Nov. 9 on charges filed in June incuding making false claims, scheming to defraud the Chippewa Cree Tribe, bribery and making fraudulent claims against a federally funded project.

Document filing deadlines are set in October in a case also charging Huston with conspiring to make false claims against a federally funded project. No trial date is set in that case.