Reznet

4th Sentenced for Selling Memberships

By Roxana Hegeman of the Associated Press

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The "secretary of state" of a group that claims to be an American Indian tribe was sentenced Friday to one year and one day in prison for encouraging illegal immigrants to live in the U.S.

Debra Flynn, also known as Little Mouse, at times choked back tears as U.S. District Judge Wesley Brown gave her the lenient sentence prosecutors had sought in exchange for her cooperation in the prosecution of the Kaweah Indian Nation and its grand chief, Malcolm Webber.

Flynn testified during Webber's trial that leaders of the Kaweah Indian Nation considered creating a reservation that could protect illegal immigrants from deportation. She described a July 2006 tribal council meeting at which the purchase of 1,000 acres as a reservation was discussed.

"I ask God to forgive me for my disobedience. I ask the court to forgive me to for my disobedience," she told the judge as her voice cracked.

Memberships brought from $50 to $1,000

Prosecutors say the Kaweah Indian Nation sold tribal memberships to immigrants and promised them that the memberships conferred U.S. citizenship. Federal officials don't recognize the tribe as legitimate, and even if they did, membership would not confer U.S. citizenship.

Prosecutors say the group sold the memberships to more than 13,000 people nationwide, often through Hispanic churches, for $50 to more than $1,000 apiece.

The bulk of the memberships were sold between January 2005 and September 2007 and amounted to about $1.2 million.

Along with the prison term, the judge ordered two years of probation for Flynn after her release from prison. He recommended Flynn, who has a number of medical problems and often uses a cane and motorized wheelchair, serve her time in a federal medical prison facility.

When she pleaded guilty in July, Flynn admitted that she processed tribal membership applications and supervised others who did the same. She also admitted working with Hispanic pastors to sell memberships to illegal immigrants.

Flynn, the tribe's chief administrator, was the fourth defendant to be sentenced in the case. A jury found Webber guilty in August on six federal charges arising from the unrecognized tribe's efforts to sell memberships, and acquitted him of one charge. His sentencing has been delayed until December.

Roxana Hegeman is an Associated Press staff writer.