Kayline Joy LaBelle was sentenced to five years in federal prison and ordered to pay $203,283.13 in restitution for embezzling more than $150,000 from the Buffalo Lake District of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Sioux Tribe between 2018 and 2022.

Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, Buffalo Lake District — Embezzlement (2018–2022)

Outcome: Kayline Joy LaBelle, 46, of Waubay, South Dakota, was sentenced to five years in federal prison and ordered to pay $203,283.13 in restitution for embezzling more than $150,000 from the Buffalo Lake District of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Sioux Tribe.

LaBelle was indicted by a federal grand jury in July 2023 for Embezzlement and Theft from an Indian Tribal Organization and Aiding and Abetting. She pleaded guilty on September 11, 2023. Between 2018 and 2022, LaBelle and others embezzled more than $150,000 belonging to the Buffalo Lake District of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Sioux Tribe.

U.S. District Judge sentenced LaBelle on December 11, 2023, to five years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay $203,283.13 in restitution and a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.

The case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of South Dakota as part of the Guardians Project, a multi-agency law enforcement initiative targeting public corruption and theft on tribal lands in South Dakota.

Primary Source: Waubay Woman Sentenced to Federal Prison for Embezzlement and Theft from an Indian Tribal Organization