FBI arrests former tribal leader on embezzlement charges

Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2000 | 8:44 a.m.

Arlyn Ackley, 48, was arrested Tuesday in Milwaukee as he was about to board a flight to Washington as part of a tribal delegation, FBI special agent David J. Williams said. Ackley later was released on personal recognizance bond, FBI spokesman Barry Babler said.

Ackley is charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court with using about $40,000 in tribal funds for his personal use. He is also charged with making unauthorized cash withdrawals on his credit card, which was supposed to be used exclusively for tribal business.

The complaint said the "vast majority" of 68 cash withdrawals between May 1994 and April 1997, totaling just over $30,000, were made at the Menominee tribal casino 40 miles away from the Mole Lake reservation.

Ackley was elected chairman in a 1993 write-in campaign, two years after he was released from prison. He had resigned in 1989 after a conviction for selling cocaine.

The Mole Lake tribal unanimously voted to oust Ackley from office in 1998 after the National Indian Gaming Commission ordered the tribe's two casinos to close for noncompliance with administrative rules.

In 1997, dissidents calling for Ackley's resignation took over the tribal headquarters for 28 days. The protesters also called for an audit of tribal funds.

The takeover ended after FBI agents seized records to assist in a federal probe.