SPOKANE, Wash. — A Davenport woman was indicted on more than two dozen counts for allegedly embezzling more than $100,000 from the Spokane Tribe of Indians.
On Nov. 7, a federal grand jury for the Eastern District of Washington returned an indictment charging Tawhnee Willow Colvin with making fraudulent money transfers from a bank account that held the Spokane Tribe of Indians' per capita funds for children who were in foster care.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, between September 2019 and October 2023, Colvin was employed as Assistant Director of the Spokane Tribe of Indians’ Department of Health and Human Services and Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS).
The Attorney's Office says Colvin had access to the DCFS bank account as part of her role as assistant director.
The DCFS bank account was maintained to ensure that guardians fostering children would receive funds for the children in their care. According to the indictment, caregivers received funds by a check from the DCFS bank account or in cash.
When caregivers accepted a cash payment, they signed a receipt to document the disbursement. Documentation of checks and cash receipts were to be maintained by the Spokane Tribe of Indians Department of Health and Human Services.
As alleged in the indictment, between October 2019 and November 2023, Colvin made more than 50 fraudulent money transfers, totaling $50,880 from the DCFS bank account to her own personal bank account.
The indictment further alleges that between September 2019 and April 2021, on at least 17 different days Colvin made cash withdrawals totaling $49,950 for which DCFS has no documentation or receipts supporting that any of these funds were provided to caregivers.
“Individuals in positions of trust have an obligation to protect the funds they oversee. This is all the more important for resources dedicated to vulnerable members of our community, such as children in foster care,” said United States Attorney Vanessa R. Waldref. “My office takes fraud seriously, and will continue to work with our federal, tribal, state, and local law enforcement to expose and prosecute public corruption, self-dealing, and fraud.”
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by United States Attorney Vanessa Waldref and Assistant United States Attorney Dan Fruchter.
