WICHITA, Kan. — The leader of a group that claims to be an American Indian tribe was sentenced Friday to five years in prison in an immigration fraud case that ensnared about 12,000 people who believed tribal membership gave them U.S. citizenship.
Malcolm Webber, also known as Grand Chief Thunderbird IV, must serve three years' probation after release from federal prison and forfeit more than $377,000 seized last year by agents who raided the Kaweah Indian Nation offices in Wichita.
Webber, 70, of Bel Aire, was convicted in August on six felony charges arising from the sale of memberships. The jury acquitted him on a conspiracy count.
Webber, who is living in a halfway house, will be allowed to surrender to begin serving his prison time.
U.S. District Judge Wesley Brown ruled that five years in prison was sufficient for the crime. Prosecutors had sought 17 1/2 years in prison, and the defense had wanted a year and a day.
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"We are glad Mr. Webber was sent to prison — that is where he belongs," Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Anderson said.
Defense attorney Kurt Kerns said he planned to appeal.
Federal prosecutors had charged the tribe and 11 people. Seven co-defendants who pleaded guilty to reduced charges received sentences ranging from probation to 13 months. Webber was the only one to go to trial.
Charges were dismissed against two people and the tribe, while one man remained a fugitive.
Webber was convicted on two counts of harboring illegal immigrants, two counts of possession of false documents with intent to defraud the United States, one count of conspiracy with intent to defraud the United States and one count of mail fraud.
The Kaweah Indian Nation marketed memberships by telling immigrants that tribal identification documents could be used to get Social Security cards, U.S. passports, health care benefits and driver's licenses.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs ruled in 1984 that the Kaweah group had no historical link to American Indian tribes and that Webber is not a native.
