Posted on December 16, 2008

Immigration Scheme Gets Chief 5 Years in Prison

AP, December 12, 2008

The leader of a group that claims to be an American Indian tribe was sentenced today in federal court to five years in prison for defrauding immigrants.

Malcolm Webber also must serve three years of probation after he is released and must forfeit more than $377,000.

Webber was convicted in August on six felony charges arising from the Kaweah Indian Nation’s false claims that tribal membership gave them U.S. citizenship. The jury acquitted him on a conspiracy count.

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[Editor’s Note: Earlier stories about the Kaweah tribe can be read here and here.]