A former contracting company owner from Minnesota has pled guilty in federal court in South Dakota for his role in a bribery scheme.
58 year old Kevin Michael Trio from Maple Plain, MN, entered his plea of guilty to Making a Materially False Statement to two federal agents with the Department of Justice. His sentencing hearing will be held August 2, 2021, in the federal courthouse in Aberdeen.
In a separate hearing, another former owner made his appearance in federal court for his role in the same bribery scheme.
Michael Nathan Cebulla, age 44, of Buffalo, Minnesota, plead not guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Bribery Concerning Programs Receiving Federal Funds and of Making a Materially False Statement. If convicted, the maximum sentence for each offense is five years of imprisonment; a $250,000 fine; or both fine and imprisonment; 3 years of supervised release following release from custody; a $100 special assessment; and restitution may be ordered. Cebulla was released pending trial.
According to court documents, the Dakota Nations Development Corporation (“DNDC”) was an agency of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Sioux Tribe, a tribal government that received federal assistance in excess of $10,000 during the one-year period between October 1, 2017, and September 30, 2018. At that time, Daniel Thomas White served as the Director of the DNDC. White’s duties included, among other things, overseeing housing and construction projects of the DNDC.
DNDC established an entity called the SWO Elderly Village Limited Partnership. The purpose of the entity was to obtain tax credit financing to build an elderly village complex on tribal land. On April 22, 2016, SWO’s tribal council passed a resolution authorizing DNDC to pursue low-income housing tax credits for the elderly village complex. The tribe also committed nearly $3,000,000 to the project.
Cebulla, Trio and John German formed a business on December 15, 2016, called Tatanka Contracting. On October 27, 2017, DNDC contracted with Tatanka Contracting to do the earthwork associated with the elderly village project. The contract was for a guaranteed price of $1,070,740, although a change order increased the total of the contract to $1,129,679.
To secure the dirt work contract, German bribed White and White accepted the bribe. Specifically, in November 2017, German corruptly gave, offered, and agreed to give money to Daniel Thomas White, intending to influence and reward White, who was an agent of the DNDC, in connection with a transaction and series of transactions of the DNDC involving $5,000 or more.
White and German pleaded guilty to their roles in the bribery scheme last year. White will be sentenced September 27, 2021, and German was sentenced in October 2020 to 84 months in federal custody.
The case was brought pursuant to The Guardians Project, a federal law enforcement initiative to coordinate efforts between participating agencies, to promote citizen disclosure of public corruption, fraud and embezzlement involving federal program funds, contracts and grants, and to hold accountable those who are responsible for adversely affecting those living in South Dakota’s Indian country communities.
To report a suspected crime, please contact law enforcement at the federal agency’s locally listed telephone number.
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