IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
A man hired to help the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians with some of its business affairs has admitted to participating in a kickback scheme that defrauded the tribe.
David Alan Heslop of Templeton pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery, according to a statement released today by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.
Heslop, 76, admitted to paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to bribe attorney Gary Kovall, who was acting as general counsel for the Coachella Valley tribe, according to the statement.
Heslop is the third person to plead guilty in connection with the scheme, in which companies were formed and the tribe was persuaded to award consulting and construction work to those businesses. The wrongdoing involved projects at the Spotlight 29 Casino, which the tribe owns and operates.
All three defendants took tribal money for their personal use, including government funds that was set aside for tribal services.
Heslop could be sentence to up to five years in federal prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced June 30 in U.S. District Court, according to the statement.
