Former Non-Indian Employee of the Jicarilla Apache Nation Sentenced to Probation for Embezzling Money from the Tribe

ALBUQUERQUE – Robert G. Wells, 63, of Albuquerque, N.M., was sentenced this morning to a five-year term of probation for embezzling money from an Indian tribal organization.  Wells also was ordered to pay $214,594.13 in restitution to the Jicarilla Apache Nation, the victim of Wells’ criminal conduct.

Wells was arrested in Nov. 2013, on a three-count indictment charging him with embezzling an aggregate of $214,594.13 from the Jicarilla Apache Nation’s Utility Authority between July 2011 and Oct. 2011.  At the time, Wells, a non-Indian, was employed by the Jicarilla Apache Nation as the comptroller for the tribe’s Utility Authority.

On Feb. 24, 2014, Wells pled guilty to all three counts of the indictment and admitted embezzling money from a Wells Fargo Bank account belonging to the Jicarilla Apache Nation’s Utility Authority through an unauthorized withdrawal and two unauthorized transfers.  In his plea agreement, Wells admitted stealing money from the tribe’s bank account on the following three occasions:  $500.00 in July 2011, $92,331 in August 2011, and $121,763 in Oct. 2011.

This case was investigated by the Albuquerque office of the FBI and the Jicarilla Apache Tribal Police Department and was prosecuted by Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Glynette R. Carson McNabb.