OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Three of nine current and former Omaha Tribal officials who admitted using federal funds to give themselves bonuses have been sentenced to probation and ordered to pay restitution. The Sioux City (Iowa) Journal reports that former members Mitchell Parker and Amen Sheridan and current member Jeff Miller were given five years of probation at their sentencing Monday in U.S. District Court in Omaha. Parker and Sheridan were ordered to pay more than $13,400, and Miller was ordered to pay more than $40,200. They’d pleaded guilty.
Prosecutors say the former and current officials misused federal funds by awarding nearly $389,000 in bonuses to themselves. Officials say the bonuses were paid from Indian Health Service funds meant to provide health care to members of the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska, who reside on the Omaha Reservation in Macy in northeastern Nebraska and in western Iowa.