PORT ANGELES — Former Makah Tribal Council member Ryland Chad Bowechop will be sentenced in federal court today for embezzling $30,000 in tribal funds for personal expenditures including clothing, travel and casino cash advances.
Bowechop, 38, of Bellingham pleaded guilty Feb. 3 in federal District Court in Tacoma to illegally charging the expenses to his tribal council credit card between June 2010 and May 2014.
Bowechop, whose grandfather was a tribal executive director and council member, resigned from the tribal council in July 2014.
A charge of embezzling $50,182 from a tribal organization was filed against Bowechop on June 26.
The amount was reduced as the result of plea negotiations, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tate London of Seattle said Thursday.
Restitution
London and attorney Cooper Offenbacher, who represented Bowechop, agreed Bowechop should pay $30,000 in restitution, according to their sentencing recommendations.
But they disagreed over whether Bowechop should be incarcerated.
London recommended Bowechop serve 10 months of the six to 12 months and a day recommended by sentencing guidelines.
Offenbacher said Bowechop’s gambling addiction supports sentencing below guidelines.
Illegal transactions
Bowechop made “dozens and dozens and dozens” of illegal transactions, London said Thursday.
“Whether it was in the hundreds, I couldn’t tell you off the top of my head,” he said.
“It was substantial.”
London said Bowechop abused his position of trust as a tribal council member every time he used his tribal credit card for personal expenses.
What he did justifies a jail term, such as those meted out in other similar tribal-fund theft cases involving two other tribes, London said.
The Makah tribe depends on revenues to provide essential governmental and social services to tribal members.
“The economic measure of loss does not adequately reflect the effect on the victim,” London said in his sentencing recommendation.
Sense of betrayal
“A collateral damage to the tribe in this case is the community’s sense of betrayal by a tribal leader who was elected by his fellow tribal members to look out for the tribe’s interest,” he said.
“That sense of betrayal would be the same whether the loss was $30,000 or $5 million.”
Offenbacher said Bowechop should serve five years of probation, be prohibited from gambling and going to casinos, and enter a substance-abuse program.
Gambling addiction
“Mr. Bowechop candidly admits that he suffered from a gambling addiction that contributed to his offense conduct during the period of time he was on the council,” Offenbacher said in his sentencing recommendation.
He said Bowechop has not gambled since his first court appearance in July 2015.
Bowechop, who submitted numerous statements of support from other tribal members to the court, was a leader in tribal cultural affairs, Offenbacher said.
Bowechop himself submitted a statement to the court.
“I lost sight of the boundaries between the tribe’s resources and my own,” he said.
“I took money from the tribe that did not belong to me,” Bowechop continued.
“I now understand that I have hurt myself, my tribe, my family and others because of my choices.
“For all of this, I am sorry.”
According to court records, Bowechop worked at the tribe’s forestry department and planning department before he was elected to the tribal council.
January 2009
Shortly after Bowechop took office in January 2009, tribal Administrative Manager Lois Peterson began noticing gas charges on the credit card that would be disallowed because mileage is reimbursed by the tribe.
“She began seeing other expenditures outside of the tribe’s travel policy, including cash advances at casinos and charges with either no corresponding receipt or that were not associated with a submitted travel voucher,” according to the complaint.
In spring 2014, the tribe retained Doug Coleman of Doug Coleman & Associates Certified Public Accountants of Lynden to review Bowechop’s tribal travel credit-card transactions and travel vouchers.
Coleman reported that between January 2009 and April 2014, Bowechop had made personal expenditures including movie tickets and cash advances, and $754 in clothing from Men’s Wearhouse.
“Numerous charges appeared on Bowechop’s travel credit card that were not supported by receipts and included thousands of dollars in hotel and resort charges,” according to the complaint.
Travel charges where no travel voucher was submitted and when Bowechop was not on official travel status included a $528 trip to Seattle in 2013, a $1,031 trip to British Columbia in 2013 and a $2,003 trip to Shelton in 2014, according to the complaint.
Bowechop was confronted by then-Tribal Chairman Timothy Greene and three other council members about $3,171 in cash advance charges following a trip to Las Vegas.
“Chairman Greene recalled that Bowechop was very quiet during the meeting and simply stated that he was too intoxicated at the time to recall the specifics of the cash advance charges,” according to the complaint.
‘Banker box’
FBI Forensic Accountant-Field Agent Jared Young reviewed a “banker box” of tribal files that showed $50,182 in “unauthorized and fraudulent charges to [Bowechop’s] tribal credit card, which were paid by the tribe.”
They included $8,478.14 for personal expenses, $16,733.89 in expenses including advances and $24,969.61 in “expenses with no voucher, outside of approved travel dates,” according to the complaint.
“Finally, FA Young found an additional $70,899.65 in questionable expenditures for which Bowechop provided no receipts, and thus the nature of the charges is unknown.”
Bowechop was placed on administrative leave on or about May 9, 2014, according to the complaint.
Tribal General Manager Meri Parker, Tribal Chairwoman Marla Tolliver and Bowechop’s lawyer, Offenbacher, did not return calls for comment Thursday about the case.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
