Feds indict six administers of mental health project

Po’ka Project was intended to help troubled Blackfeet children

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Six individuals, including three residents of East Glacier, were indicted on a total of 21 separate wire fraud counts along with charges of fraud, theft, embezzlement, tax evasion and money laundering, connected with a federal program intended to help troubled and at-risk children on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.

According to U.S. Attorney for Montana Michael Cotter, the indictments came at the end of a two-year investigation by the Guardians Project, a cooperative effort created in 2011 between the Department of the Interior, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service. The Guardians Project so far has brought eight indictments against 25 defendants and has 25 other investigations underway.

The Aug. 8 indictment in U.S. District Court in Great Falls alleges that the six individuals committed crimes while administering and reporting for the Blackfeet Po’ka Project, also known as the Blackfeet Children System of Care.

The Po’ka Project was initially funded with a $1 million grant in 2005 by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The grant was renewed for six years with another $9 million. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services also provided $300,000.

The grant funding required an in-kind or matching contribution by the Blackfeet Tribe that increased over time. The goal, Cotter said, was to eventually make the Po’ka Project self-sufficient. Early on, the Tribe contributed $1 for every $3 in federal money. In the last two fiscal years, the tribe was required to contribute $2 for every $1 in federal money.

Much of the indictment is connected to fraudulent claims related to the Tribe’s in-kind or matching contributions allegedly made in an effort to maximize federal funding, Cotter said. The indictment alleges that the six individuals fabricated records and made material misrepresentations about the Tribe’s contributions. The six named individuals included:

• Francis Kay Onstad, 60, Valier, former director of the Po’ka Project, 32 counts.

• Delyle Shanny Augare, 57, Browning, former assistant director of the Po’ka Project, 22 counts.

• Gary Joseph Conti, 67, Three Forks, a former professor at Oklahoma State University and the national monitor for the Po’ka Project grant and program, 19 counts.

• Dorothy May Still Smoking, 64, East Glacier, the former local evaluator for the Po’ka Project and a consultant working for Conti, 25 counts.

• Katheryn Elizabeth Sherman, 66, East Glacier, former in-kind coordinator for the Po’ka Project, 25 counts.

• Charlotte B. New Breast, 52, East Glacier, former administrative assistant for the Po’ka Project, 23 counts.

Among the allegations in the indictment are embezzlement, money laundering and interstate transportation of money relating to money allegedly kicked back to Onstad and Augare, with Conti acting as the intermediary vendor. The indictment also alleges Conti committed bankruptcy fraud, and that Onstad and Augare committed tax evasion.

Penalties range from one year for each count of willful failure to file an income tax return to 20 years for each count of wire fraud.