A former Blackfeet official was sentenced to five months in federal prison for stealing more than $70,000 in federal dollars allocated to the tribe for COVID-19 response supplies, court filings show.
James C. McNeely pleaded guilty in January to one count of theft from an Indian tribal government receiving federal funding, according to federal court documents.
He was sentenced by a federal judge on June 18 to five months in prison, which will be followed by two years of supervised release. McNeely was also ordered to pay $78,775.76 in restitution.
McNeely previously worked as the tribe’s operations manager and public information officer.
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The Blackfeet Tribe received federal money through the American Rescue Plan Act, also known as ARPA, to help with public health and economic recovery amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the indictment, which was filed last October.
McNeely claimed he bought COVID-19 supplies from the online retailer Amazon for the tribe when he had not actually purchased such products, according to the indictment. It says he used and submitted pictures of his Amazon shopping cart and quotes from local businesses to “make his false claims appear legitimate to any review from the Blackfeet Tribe.”
The accusations against McNeely spanned from October 2021 to October 2022.
McNeely was initially charged with other counts, including wire fraud, but those were dismissed by U.S. District Judge Brian Morris at the sentencing.
Zoë Buchli is the education reporter for the Missoulian.
