A 64 year old woman from Sioux Falls has been sentenced in federal court for Making a Materially False Statement.
Tami Haug-Davis was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $15,000 to the Missouri Valley Crisis Center in Chamberlain and to the US Department of Justice. She was also sentenced to one year of probation and to serve 40 hours of community service.
Court information says beginning about September 2016 and until February 2019, Haug-Davis was the Director of the Missouri Valley Crisis Center in Chamberlain. During this time, MVCC was funded in large part by state and federal grants, awarded by the South Dakota Department of Social Services. MVCC received funds from the following federal grants: Family Violence Prevention Services, Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families and Crime Victims Assistance, Department of Justice, Office of Victims of Crime.
In the fall of 2018, South Dakota Department of Public Safety Victim Services Program conducted a review of MVCC pursuant to their receipt of federal and state grants. DPS later issued MVCC a Corrective Action Plan dated October 11, 2018. The plan listed 17 items for which MVCC needed to provide supporting documentation to DPS, including a corrective action that MVCC must provide detailed board meeting minutes from the last three meetings and a complete list of the Board of Directors.
MVCC provided a response to DPS’s directive for more information. Following receipt of MVCC’s response, a complaint was issued by the State of South Dakota’s Division of Criminal Investigation. On March 28, 2019, the US Department of Justice – Office of the Inspector General opened an investigation regarding the management of MVCC as it had provided federal grant monies to MVCC. The Department of Health and Human Services – Office of the Inspector General joined the investigation, as it had also provided federal grant monies to MVCC.
As part of the joint investigation, federal agents with each agency interviewed Haug-Davis. On August 30, 2019, and July 14, 2020, during interviews with federal agents, Haug-Davis intentionally made materially false statements regarding the creation, submission and veracity of board meeting minutes and documents provided to DPS in response to the October 11, 2018, corrective action plan. Her statements were made about a matter within the jurisdiction of the US Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services and she knew her statements were untrue when she made the statements to investigators.
The investigation was conducted by the US Department of Justice – Office of the Inspector General, the Department of Health and Human Services – Office of the Inspector General and the State of South Dakota’s Division of Criminal Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy Jehangiri.
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