RAPID CITY, S.D. — U.S. District Judge Linda R. Reade has sentenced Julian Bear Runner after he was convicted of six counts of Wire Fraud, one count of Larceny, and one count of Embezzlement and Theft from an Indian Tribal Organization.
The 39-year-old Bear Runner was sentenced to 22 months in federal prison on each count to run concurrently followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $800 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund and $82,483.71 in restitution to the Oglala Sioux Tribe.
The Department of Justice says that between January of 2019 and January of 2020, at Pine Ridge, Bear Runner, while acting in his capacity as President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, fraudulently submitted travel vouchers for official business travel and received payment for travel that he was not entitled to as he was not actually traveling.
Bear Runner was indicted by a federal grand jury in September of 2022. He was found guilty of wire fraud, larceny and embezzlement in April of 2024.
