A adult female formerly employed at a Gopher State gambling casino owned and operated past a Native American federation of tribes testament spend the next VIII months inward prison. She was convicted for embezzling pecuniary resource from the resort hotel property.
Jennifer Lynn Boutto, 33, pleaded shamefaced in March to ane numerate of embezzlement and theft of tribal funds. Through her employment at the Fortune Bay Resort Casino inward Tower, Mn, Boutto admitted to stealing close to $315,000 inwards cash from the tribal casino.
The Fortune Bay Resort Casino is the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa’s lone gaming property.
Yesterday, MN US District Court Judge Eric Tostrud sentenced Boutto to eight months inward federal prison, plus ace yr of supervised release. Boutto must also bring home the bacon full restoration of the $315,739.87 that she stole from the tribe.
Fortune Bay is placed less than 25 miles south of the Canadian border in Minnesota. The tribal cassino features 800 slot machines, 12 sap tables, and a four-table fire hook room. The 173-room hotel and RV holiday resort offers guests an indoor pool, a golf game course, quintuplet restaurants, and cross-country trails idealistic for snowmobiling inwards the overwinter and hiking during the warmer months.
Theft Uncovered
Fortune Bay Casino officials say Jennifer Boutto was hired as a receptionist at the tribal holiday resort in 2008. She climbed her way to place of front end desk supervisor within fivesome years.
Under the role of face desk supervisor, Boutto was able-bodied to egress cash refunds to customers without favorable reception from a supervisor or higher-ups within the casino’s operations. Between 2013 and 2019, federal prosecutors say Boutto wrote nearly 3,000 fraudulent cash in refunds totaling to a greater extent than $315,000.
Boutto wrote the illegal refunds against late incurred client invoices. But instead of patrons actually placing complaints and seeking refunds, Boutto wrote the grievances and pocketed the refunds herself.
The Department of Justice, which investigated and prosecuted the case, did not reveal how the theft came to light.
Ms. Boutto took vantage of the managerial billet she had been trusted with and selfishly stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa,” said Acting US Attorney W. Anders Folk. “This brazen theft of Tribal finances deeply impacted the Tribe’s ability to bring home the bacon services to its own members.
“Today’s sentence signals the seriousness of Ms. Boutto’s crimes,” Folk added.
Tribe Thanks Prosecutors
Bois Forte Tribal Chairwoman Cathy Chavers thanked the Justice Department for successfully bringing Boutto to justice, and order financial restitution.
“Far too often, crimes are committed against tribes inwards Red Indian Country, and the penalisation is a slap on the wrist,” Chavers stated. “We spat Judge Tostrud for realizing the serious-mindedness of the offense committed. Boutto serving clip in federal prison reinforces the fact that crimes the likes of these won’t follow tolerated.”
The Bois Forte Band of Chippewa, the like every other folk inwards the United States, was greatly impacted by COVID-19. Just last week, the remote Gopher State tribe confirmed quaternion unexampled COVID-19 cases on the Bois Forte Reservation.
The coronavirus continues to spread out among Native Americans in Minnesota. The state’s to the highest degree recent seven-day moving average out caseful grade per 100,000 people is simply 20 for whitened people, but nearly 120 among tribal populations.
Business at Fortune Bay suffered throughout 2020 and into this year. In hopes of preventing another outbreak that results inward the casino’s temporary closure, Fortune Bay is requiring all resort employees to suit vaccinated by November 1.