SISSETON, S.D. — A former Sisseton contractor will spend two years in federal prison for embezzling nearly $400,000 in Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate tribal funds.
Dustin Martin Kirk, 48, former operator and sole owner of the now defunct Siouxland Lumber & Materials Co., has also been ordered to pay $384,289 in restitution to the tribe.
His sentence was announced Tuesday, May 12, by South Dakota U.S. Attorney Ron Parsons.
In the embezzling scheme, he stole money, goods and other property belonging to the Dakota Nation Development Corp. and the Sisseton-Wahpeton Housing Authority, both entities of the tribe.
Kirk started his company on April 29, 2016. He used the company and its bank account for personal expenses and to withdraw money, including for gambling. He also took housing assistance funds provided through the federal government.
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The company dissolved on May 4, 2018.
Kirk pleaded guilty to the embezzlement charge last September and appeared in federal court before U.S. District Court Judge Charles Kornmann in Aberdeen.
He was ordered to self-report to the U.S. Marshal's Service or Bureau of Prisons to begin serving his term on June 2. After his prison term, he will be on three years of supervised probation.
