The precise dollar amount remains in dispute, but a member of the Skull Valley Band of Goshutes has admitted to taking money from tribal coffers and using it for his own purposes.

Sammy Blackbear pleaded guilty to one count of theft from an Indian tribal organization. Federal prosecutors contend Blackbear took $25,000 in the single act of theft on Oct. 2, 2001. Blackbear, however, maintains it was much less than that and will dispute the amount at a June hearing.

Defense attorney David Finlayson acknowledged Monday that $25,000 can be traced back to Blackbear through receipts but said some of it went to legitimate tribal expenses, such as attorneys' fees.

Blackbear, 40, was charged in December 2003 along with fellow Goshutes Marlinda Moon and Miranda Wash and tribal attorney Duncan Steadman. Those defendants have pleaded not guilty and are scheduled to stand trial on the charges in June.

Under the terms of his plea agreement, Blackbear will be required to cooperate, and possibly testify, in the government's case against Moon, Wash and Steadman, as well as a related case against tribal chairman Leon D. Bear.

Wash, Blackbear and Moon claimed they were elected tribal chairman, vice chairman and secretary, respectively, in a September 2001 election. The election was not recognized by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the U.S. Attorney's Office for Utah accused the group of using the election to gain access to some $1 million in the band's bank accounts.

The trio are part of a faction opposed to Bear's ongoing leadership of the small band. Bear has been a major proponent of storing high-level nuclear waste on Goshute land in Utah's west desert, leading to dissention and contentious leadership disputes among the Goshutes.

Bear is scheduled to go to trial next month on a separate federal indictment, also handed down in December 2003. The embattled Goshute leader is charged with one count of theft from Indian tribal organizations, one count of theft concerning federally funded programs, and three counts of fraud and false statements.

Blackbear faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced on the single theft charge in July. At that time, prosecutors will dismiss five counts of bank fraud, each of which also carried a possible five-year prison sentence.

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E-mail: awelling@desnews.com