Supervisor who aided Rocky Boy man begins trial

The jury trial for the supervisor of Larry Denny, who was indicted for accepting payments from a government job he had stopped working, began Monday.

John Grimson Lyon, of Virginia, is accused of wire fraud, making false claims and theft of government property after allegedly assisting Denny in making sure Denny was paid when he left his job at the Bureau of Land Management in Virginia to go to Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation to work with his own company there.

Witnesses who were sworn in to speak at the trial at Missouri River Federal Courthouse Monday were John ”Chance” Houle, Stacie Solis and Kemba Anderson-Artis. The first day of trial began at 8:30 a.m. and concluded at 5:35 p.m. and was scheduled to continue today at 8:30 a.m.

Houle is awaiting his sentencing in the continuing scandal involving the embezzlement of funds from Rocky Boy.

Denny left his job citing health-issues and continued to accept payments from July 2012 to March 2013. He was compensated for 550 hours of work, 461 hours of sick leave, 389 hours of annual leave and 72 hours for federal holidays.

For 2012, Lyon gave Denny a performance appraisal rating of exceptional, which resulted in Denny receiving a cash award of $3,262 in November 2012.