On January 24, 2025, the former Chief Financial Officer of the Wild Horse Butte Community Development Corporation (WHB) and Sacred Shawl Society, a domestic violence shelter in Martin, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Reservation, was sentenced to 12 months and one day of imprisonment and ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution for one count of Larceny. The shelter is a recipient of grant funds from the DOJ Office on Violence Against Women. MaDonna Peterson, who was terminated from her position, was sentenced in the District of South Dakota. According to the factual statement in support of the guilty plea, between January 2017 and July 2021, Peterson wrote herself 59 additional paychecks that she was not entitled to totaling $70,000, submitted fraudulent reimbursement requests to WHB, and wrote checks to cash and kept the money that she was not entitled to. The investigation was conducted by the OIG’s Tucson Office and the FBI.
Date Issued
Case Action
Sentencing