Sunchild pleads guilty

Bruce Harold Sunchild, who faces theft and tax evasion charges in a string of Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation investigations, had a change-of-plea hearing Monday.

Sunchild pleaded guilty to charges at the United States District Court in Great Falls Monday and is set to be sentenced Jan. 29.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of theft.

One was from an Indian Tribal Organization. He admitted that he knowingly converted monies, funds or property to his use or the use of another, that the property belonged to the Rocky Boy Health board Clinic and that the money or property had a value in excess of $1,000.

In the other count of theft, he admitted that he was aided by others, including Shad Huston, K & N Consulting, Tony Belcourt and John "Chance" Houle, to knowingly take funds from the Chippewa Cree Tribe and that the amount was in excess of $1,000.

He also pleaded guilty to a count of income tax evasion, admitting that he owed more federal income tax for the calendar year of 2012 than was declared, that he knew more tax was owed, that he made an attempt to evade the tax and did it willingly.

Another count he pleaded guilty to Monday was accepting a bribe as a tribal official from federal program. In this count, he admitted that he was an agent of an Indian tribal government receiving more than $10,000 of federal funds, that he accepted and agreed to accept something of value and that he intended to be influenced or rewarded in connection with some business, transaction or series of transactions with the Indian tribal government.

Sunchild was charged with taking a $25,000 bribe in 2011 after he authorized $300,000 in payments from the tribe to Shad Huston’s consulting company in Havre. Huston is a former Havre Public Schools Board of Trustees president.

Huston is awaiting sentencing on charges results from the corruption.

Recent indictments against Sunchild included four counts of tax evasion and a count of theft after he was investigated for telling the Rocky Boy’s Health Clinic director in 2012 to cut his son and another person checks for $12,500 each was conducted.

These charges were part of a massive federal investigation into corruption at Rocky Boy.

Sunchild was chair of the Chippewa Cree Tribe’s Business Committee in 2011 when he accepted the bribes and embezzled from the tribe’s funds.