PHOENIX (LAWFUEL) – Dorothy Mae Endfield, 50, of Cibecue, Ariz. and an employee at the White Mountain Apache Tribe’s Cibecue Commercial Center, pleaded guilty today to Embezzlement From a Tribal Organization before U.S. District Judge Earl H. Carroll.
Endfield admitted that while she was an assistant store manager for the Commercial Center, she stole approximately $33,600 from her employer. In addition, she admitted in court and to an FBI Special Agent that prior to February 2004, she had taken between $300 and $400 from the Commercial Center every two weeks for approximately four years and had not paid the money back. Endfield also provided the Special Agent with a detailed explanation as to how she rotated money and receipts from different safes and accounts in order to make all of her employer’s accounts appear as if they were balanced.
Sentencing is set before Judge Carroll on Tuesday, January 20, 2009, at 11:00 a.m. A conviction for Embezzlement From a Tribal Organization carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both. In determining an actual sentence, Judge Carroll will consult the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provide appropriate sentencing ranges. The judge, however, is not bound by those guidelines in determining a sentence.
The investigation in this case was conducted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the White Mountain Apache Tribal Police Department. The prosecution is being handled by Frederick A. Battista, Assistant U.S. Attorney, District of Arizona, Phoenix.
CASE NUMBER: CR-08-269-PCT-EHC
RELEASE NUMBER: 2008-277(Endfield)
