Kevin Lamorris McKenzie was sentenced last month to 14 years in prison on top of a concurrent five year prison sentence. He had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and embezzlement from a Native American tribe.
Prosecutors say McKenzie served as COO and then CEO of Apache Behavioral Health Services when he engaged in a scheme to defraud the organization and the White Mountain Apache tribe of millions of dollars.
They say he used contracts as a front to funnel money from the organization to himself.
The behavioral health organization paid more than $35 million to a group called Helping Everyday Youth. That group made a secret agreement with McKenzie, prosecutors say, and funneled the money to a shell company he controlled instead.
They also say he funneled money through a company owned by a co-defendant, Evolved Health Care Inc. who then split the profits with McKenzie.
McKenzie was ordered to pay back more than $33 million and surrender real estate and luxury cars, including a Rolls Royce.
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Representatives from the Navajo, Hopi and San Juan Southern Paiute tribes spoke in front of a Senate Committee to support the Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement. -
Native American tribes across the West are trying — and in more and more cases succeeding — in getting ancestral lands back. -
American bison are a symbol of the West that might’ve vanished from this landscape entirely — if not for conservation efforts. Each year, the city of Denver donates buffalo from a long-established herd to federally recognized tribes and nonprofits. -
The U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs has invited tribal leaders from across the Grand Canyon State to testify on Capitol Hill. The Northeast Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Act is the subject of Wednesday’s hearing. -
Highschoolers across six BIE-run schools in South Dakota, Oklahoma, Montana and New Mexico are already participating, including Northwest High School in Shiprock on the Navajo Nation.
