SEATTLE ? In a continuing series of scandals plaguing the Puyallup tribe, allegations have surfaced that the tribal council dropped charges on a tribal member who embezzled funds earmarked for a federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program.
Christy Duenas worked for the Puyallup Nation Housing Authority and allegedly added more than $2,300 to six department check requisitions. Ostensibly this money was to be used to pay her work cell phone bill, but when she paid the telephone company, it is alleged she told them to take the remainder to pay her husband’s cell phone bill as well.
It is claimed that Duenas would request a check for Housing Authority business and get it signed off by a supervisor. She would then put in a larger amount to be requisitioned and take it to a second supervisor who would assume the first had approved the entire amount, tribal members charge.
A criminal case was filed in tribal court and referred to tribal prosecutor Debra O’Gara. Internal documents obtained by Indian Country Today show the council clearly told O’Gara not to pursue the case.
Since the tribal council was the de facto defendant in the case, it was up it to decide whether to push for charges, crippling the case. Complicating matters was the fact O’Gara, in her motion to dismiss all charges, stated that while there was enough evidence to convict Duenas, consequential punishment for actions would be sufficient ? losing her job and being suspended and potentially fined by HUD. Furthermore the tribal council repaid HUD.
‘It is the opinion of the undersigned that the defendant clearly committed a violation of the criminal code,’ O’Gara said in her motion on March 26.
Apparently the council was not happy with this part of O’Gara’s motion to dismiss and in the minutes of the April 5 meeting, the Puyallup council was recorded as saying, ‘motion to dismiss was very damaging to former employee (Duenas).’
‘The council directed that the Housing Department be repaid since employees conducting tribal business were using these phones,’ minutes from the tribal council meeting in which the matter was discussed show.
‘My question is, why would the tribal council pay back embezzled money to protect an individual. They are acting like the tribal treasury is their own money,’ said James Miles, the former deputy executive officer of the tribe.
Minutes of the April 5 meeting also show the tribal council authorized payment to HUD using tribal funds.
Miles said he got wind of what was going on and recommended to the council that Duenas be fired. Instead it was Miles who was eventually fired.
Duenas filed a wrongful termination suit against the tribe and Puyallup sources say she was offered a $25,000 settlement for dropping the suit and allegedly was offered a new job with the tribe.
Though neither Duenas nor her husband David could be reached for comment, published reports in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer say David Duenas defended his phone calls saying that he was a tribal employee and all the phone calls paid for out of the HUD money were for tribal business.
The Puyallup Tribal Council steadfastly refused direct comment to the media in wake of a myriad of allegations leveled at them, including several cases of misuse of tribal funds totaling millions of dollars.
At the end of September they issued a general statement on the alleged scandals in the form of a letter to the membership.
The Sept. 26 letter blames a few disgruntled tribal members and condemns them for airing the tribal dirty laundry in front of the media. In fact, the letter says that the Puyallup tribe ‘has had a history of conflict with the media dating back to the 1880s.’
The letter also stated the council feels it is wrong to use the media and that the tribal judicial system is ‘strong and fair.’ The letter also says the tribe would hire a media consultant to ‘prevent this one-sided journalism from happening in the future.’
‘The courts are under the thumb of the tribal council,’ says Harry Dillon Jr., a Puyallup tribal member who has been an outspoken opponent of the Puyallup Tribal Council.
Puyallup sources also say that a media consultant was hired by the tribe and walked away after refusing to write an allegedly false story on behalf of the tribal council.
‘We also believe that at this time, when the United States of America has been brutally attacked by terrorists, we as a tribe need to show the strength of our character through the unity of our people.’
The letter, signed ‘Your Tribal Council,’ has raised the ire of several council opponents. The Members for Equal Opportunity and Responsible Government (MEORG), a coalition of Puyallup tribal members opposed to the council, issued its own response to the council letter.
The MEORG Sept. 28 letter, sent out to the Puyallup tribal membership, challenged the assertion that the journalism was one-sided and chided the council for not even attempting to refute any of the facts of previous news stories on the council.
MEORG took exception to the council’s usage of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which MEORG called ‘shocking.’
‘How dare they involve the horrid tragedy of The World Trade Center in New York as a cover or sympathy blanket to put up to cover themselves,’ MEORG wrote.
Miles, Dillon and several MEORG members hasten to point out that the council is not the entire Puyallup tribe. They all assert the corruption is limited to the council and a smattering of other highly placed tribal employees. They say the problem is that these are the people in control.
Tribal member Jenny Matheson agreed and sent out her own letters attacking certain actions of the tribal council and calling for certain reform measures to be put in place.
Matheson stated that the problem is in the system of government she believes is corrupted by favoritism and nepotism and calls for a new code of conduct that include penalties for both civil and criminal violations.
Matheson also asked for a separation of powers within the tribal government so members of tribal law enforcement and Puyallup judges are not in a position to be fired by the tribal council.
Matheson calls for abolition of a full-time, paid tribal council at Puyallup, which she said has corrupted the tribal leaders.
‘We must get back to leaders because it is an honor and a privilege, not for the big fat paycheck,’ Matheson said.
Puyallup tribal sources say the council members make about $68,000 a year and gave themselves a 60 percent increase after opening the tribe’s Emerald Queen Casino.