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Eastlick gets 6 years on embezzlement

James Howard Eastlick Jr. was sentenced to six years of prison Wednesday for bribery, tax evasion and theft from an Indian tribal organization.

Judge Brian Morris at the Missouri River Federal Courthouse gave Eastlick a break from what could have been a 108-month sentence. Due to Eastlick’s cooperation with the U.S. government with investigations into corruption at Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation and his lack of an apparent criminal history, Morris gave him one-third off the standard sentence.

Eastlick must pay $484,800 in restitution jointly with co-defendants in the investigation. Personally, he is responsible for $100,000 in restitution.The money will be used to pay back what was stolen from the reservation, the north-central Montana water project and the Internal Revenue Service.

Vernon Woodward, Eastlick’s attorney, spoke before Morris, calling his client by the casual Jim Eastlick.

“Jim Eastlick is a bright guy,” Woodward said. “Why in the world am I standing in front of you? … Because he got greedy.”

Woodward said that Eastlick is not a criminal mastermind and that he is one of the many people involved in this case who decided to put their hands in the public till.

“This is not the mafia,” he said, adding that this is a group of friends who knew where the money was and how to get it.

Eastlick owned 49 percent of the Hunter Burns Construction Co., which figured highly in the embezzlement indictments on Rocky Boy. John “Chance” Houle was the leading player in forming the corporation, he said.

“The corruption on Rocky Boy reservation does not begin with Jim Eastlick,” Woodward said. “It does not end with Jim Eastlick.”

Woodward said that Eastlick deserved some leniency in his sentencing for his changed ways and guilty conscious. He requested Morris give Eastlick a 36-month sentence.

“I accept full responsibility for my actions,” Eastlick said. “ … I lament those decisions every day.”

He spoke to Morris about how he went into the psychology field to help the people of Rocky Boy and he owes them an apology for betraying their trust. He said he took the money to help him and his family.

“I cannot believe the person I became in that situation,” he said, tearing up and voice breaking. He spoke of his assistance in the Rocky Boy corruption cases being the first step of making things right, a process he’s going through in order to change his ways and have his family be able to look upon him without shame.

Morris responded to Eastlick’s soliloquy.

“How do you get into this mess?” he asked him after noting that, by Montana’s standards, he was making a decent salary before the thefts.

“Money became security for me,” Eastlick said and added that he left his morals and ethics at the door.

Eastlick’s salary was $126,000 in 2013, Morris said.

“How much do you need?” he asked.

Eastlick owned stock in many illegitimate companies associated with the Rocky Boy scandals. Eastlick said that when he came to Rocky Boy, he noticed that certain people got the contracts for work on the reservations in a “pay-to-play” situation. Projects were put up for bid at high rates and the companies that kicked back some of the funds to the officials got the jobs.

“Do I think this will change?” Eastlick said in response to Morris asking the same question. “No, I don’t.”

Carl E. Rostad, an assistant United States Attorney for District of Montana representing the U.S., the plaintiff, suggested to Morris that Eastlick be given a 46-month sentence for his assistance with the U.S. government and be given leniency on his monetary restitution because his “spigot has been turned off” as far as income.

He admitted Eastlick is as culpable as Tony Belcourt and Houle in the case.

In Morris’ sentencing speech, he said one of his jobs in the case was to impose a sentence that is sufficient, but not excessive.

“This was a mind-boggling stream of corrupt acts,” Morris said. “ … It’s shocking to me how this level of corruption goes on in modern society.”

He said that Eastlick, who is not a member of the Chippewa Cree, filled the role of putting a “lawful looking sheen” on the corruption of Rocky Boy.

Morris said greed, sexual desire and substances constitute 95 percent of the cases he oversees.

“This case reeks of greed,” he said. “ … I hope these prosecutions will promote deterrence.”

He said that the money Eastlick took with for the people of Rocky Boy, who needed it.

“That money doesn’t belong to any one — it belongs to the people,” he said.

Morris said that though this is a sentence that would have warranted a high-end punishment, Eastlick’s cooperation in the Rocky Boy investigations warranted a break.

Since this was a repeat offense and Eastlick was not by any means forced, however, he was given six years.

Eastlick has 14 days to appeal the decision before he self-reports at a federal prison in Sheridan, Wyoming, to be closer to his family in Idaho. Eastlick is not available for parole.

“I know this may seem harsh,” Morris said to quiet Eastlick after he read him the specifics of his incarceration and probation. “It’s not a happy day for anyone. … I hope you can put this behind you all.”

Judge Brian Morris also sentenced his sister and former brother-in-law, Tammy Kay and Mark Craig Leischner, earlier Wednesday.

Tammy Kay Leischner was sentenced to 24 months in prison for counts of blackmail and offense committed while on release. She owes restitution of $311,000 jointly with co-defendants and $64,092 individually.

Her ex-husband was also given 24 months in prison for counts of conspiracy to defraud the United States, embezzlement from Indian tribal organizations and influence or injuring an office, juror or witness, with $281,313 in restitution jointly and individually. He must give the Department of Education $64,092 and the Chippewa Cree Tribe $217,221.

 
 

Reader Comments(1)

rbcitizen writes:

Eastlick is right about one thing, This coruption is still going at all levels of tribal conucil businees committee closed door meetings. Now they are covering up FEMA thefts that occured 2010,11,and 12. Evently I hope this will catch up to them, as the saying go's, What goes aroud comed around.