Fifth person convicted in Crow Tribe case

BILLINGS – A construction company owner admits he helped the former finance director of the Crow Tribe to embezzle more than $100,000 in a scheme to pay the legal defense expenses of the former tribal chairman.

Robert Gipson Jr., 37, of Crow Agency, pleaded guilty Nov. 28 in federal court to theft from an American Indian tribe.

Gipson is the fifth person to be convicted in what prosecutors said was an embezzlement scheme devised by Kelly Dee Passes, the tribe’s former finance director, and former chairman Clifford G. Birdinground.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Carl Rostad said Passes devised inflated or fake contracts in which co-defendants would receive payments for jobs, cash the checks and kick back some or all of the money to Passes or Birdinground.

The money went to pay for Birdinground’s legal bills after he was indicted on corruption charges stemming from the purchase of vehicles from a Billings car dealership. Birdinground eventually pleaded guilty to a bribery count and was sentenced to 37 months in prison. As part of a plea agreement he resigned as tribal chairman and was not prosecuted in the embezzlement scheme.

In December 2001, Passes approached Gipson, who co-owned Cedar River Construction, for help in getting money from the tribe, Rostad said. During the next four months, Gipson received payments totaling $108,000 from two bogus contracts. He kept $12,000 and shared the rest with Passes.

Passes pleaded guilty earlier, was sentenced to a year and a day in prison and was ordered to pay $57,200.