Standing Rock Sioux Tribe — Oyate CDC / Running Antelope District
Outcome
Two men were sentenced on July 18, 2022, for embezzling from Standing Rock Sioux Tribe organizations — Joshua Iron Cloud Sr. received six months in prison for stealing $25,000 from the Oyate Community Development Corporation, and Donel Takes The Gun received eight months for stealing $16,000 from the Running Antelope District.
Details
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe — Dual Embezzlement Cases (2017–2020)
Outcome: Two men were sentenced on July 18, 2022, for embezzling from Standing Rock Sioux Tribe organizations — Joshua Iron Cloud Sr. received six months in federal prison for stealing $25,000 from the tribe's community development corporation, and Donel Takes The Gun received eight months for stealing $16,000 from a tribal district.
Case 1 — Joshua Iron Cloud Sr.: Between March and May 2020, Iron Cloud, of Wakpala, South Dakota, embezzled approximately $25,000 from the Oyate Community Development Corporation of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. U.S. District Judge Charles B. Kornmann sentenced him on July 18, 2022 to six months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered payment of $23,980 in restitution to the tribe plus $100 to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.
Case 2 — Donel Takes The Gun: Between October 2017 and March 2020, Takes The Gun, of Little Eagle, South Dakota, embezzled approximately $16,000 from the Running Antelope District of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Judge Kornmann sentenced him on the same date to eight months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release.
Both cases were prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of South Dakota as part of the Guardians Project federal initiative addressing public corruption and financial crimes on tribal lands.
Primary Source: Wakpala Man Sentenced to Prison for Embezzlement from Standing Rock Tribal Organization
How Crucible Prevents This
Two separate thefts from two different Standing Rock entities sentenced on the same day suggests the Guardians Project's systematic investigation of tribal financial controls across multiple entities simultaneously. Crucible's transaction monitoring hooks at the district and CDC level would have detected the unauthorized conversion of tribal funds through reconciliation controls that compare authorized disbursements against accounting entries, surfacing discrepancies before losses exceed $10,000.
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