From the courts: Federal District Court

GREAT FALLS (AP) — A former chief financial officer at the Chippewa Cree Health Board’s clinic on Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison for circumventing the approval process in taking nearly $112,000 in loans from the board’s loan program.

U.S. District Judge Brian Morris sentenced Kathy Ann Sutherland Wednesday after she previously pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. She was ordered to pay restitution in the same amount as the loans.

Sutherland previously told the court that she used the money to feed her gambling habit.

Prosecutors say the 61-year-old defendant took out employee loans from the health board loan program. The money was to be repaid through payroll deductions, but Sutherland bypassed the loan limit and cashed duplicate checks to get more money.