Sisseton-Wahpeton Housing Authority
Outcome
Sisseton-Wahpeton Housing Authority Executive Director Eric Shepherd and Chief Financial Officer Olivia Locke were federally indicted in July 2024 for creating and cashing checks payable to themselves from three tribal accounts between 2019 and 2024, stealing an estimated $250,000 in federal housing funds.
Details
Sisseton-Wahpeton Housing Authority — Executive Director and CFO Embezzlement (2019–2024)
Outcome: Eric Shepherd, Executive Director of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Housing Authority, and Olivia Locke, its Chief Financial Officer, were federally indicted in July 2024 for creating and cashing checks payable to themselves from three tribal accounts between 2019 and 2024, with alleged losses of approximately $250,000 in federal HUD housing funds.
According to the federal indictment, Shepherd and Locke conspired to embezzle from the Sisseton-Wahpeton Housing Authority over a five-year period. They created checks drawn on tribal housing accounts — including federally funded HUD accounts — made payable to themselves, then cashed those checks for personal benefit.
The scheme involved three separate tribal accounts and continued for approximately five years before law enforcement action. The estimated loss of $250,000 represents a significant portion of a small tribal housing authority's operating funds.
The indictment was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota in July 2024. The case follows a pattern of housing authority fraud at Sisseton-Wahpeton — a prior case involving contractor Dustin Martin Kirk resulted in a 2020 conviction for embezzling $384,000 in tribal construction funds from related entities.
Primary Source: Sisseton Wahpeton housing officials charged with embezzling $250k in federal funds
How Crucible Prevents This
The Shepherd/Locke scheme represents a classic dual-executive collusion: the Executive Director and CFO conspired to write unauthorized checks to themselves — bypassing all internal controls because the two individuals who should have checked each other were co-conspirators. Crucible's dual-authorization enforcement hook requiring that any check above $500 be authorized by two officials who cannot be the payee of that check would have blocked every fraudulent transaction. An automated bank-statement reconciliation comparing every check payee against the authorized employee roster would have detected self-payment checks on the first bank statement.
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