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Defrauder Sentenced to 8.5 Years in Prison
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Bart Wayne Volen, 54, of San Diego and Haiku, Hawaii, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Troy L. Nunley, to eight years and six months in prison for defrauding the United Auburn Indian Community, conspiring to launder monetary instruments, and filing a false tax return, Acting United States Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.
At sentencing, Judge Nunley noted that Volen had stolen from people who had become “like family members” to him.
“Bart Volen and his co-defendants used their trusted positions to steal millions of dollars from the UAIC,” said Michael T. Batdorf, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation. “Rather than stopping the fraud, Mr. Volen chose to benefit from it. Today’s sentencing should send a clear message that those involved in these types of schemes will be held accountable for their actions.”
According to court documents, between October 2006 and December 2007, Volen, Gregory Scott Baker, of Newcastle, and Darrell Patrick Hinz, 48, of Cameron Park, engaged in a scheme to defraud the UAIC. An indictment from August 2012 charged the defendants with conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud and various money laundering violations. A superseding indictment from April 2013 added additional charges, alleging that Volen and Hinz filed false tax returns in 2006 and 2007, and that Baker filed false tax returns from 2006 through 2009. The defendants ultimately stole over $18 million from the UAIC through their scheme.
According to court documents, in October 2006, the UAIC hired Volen, a developer, to finish construction on a school, a community center, and administrative offices on UAIC-owned property on Indian Hills Road in Auburn. Volen submitted false and inflated invoices to the UAIC, and Baker and Hinz, both UAIC employees, approved the fraudulent invoices based on a kickback agreement between the three men. Volen supported his invoices with inflated cost proposals from his general contractor’s company, Sequoia Pacific Builders (SPB), and, at times, inflated invoices from various subcontractors. At Volen’s direction, over 160 SPB cost proposals were fraudulently inflated.
Baker was the UAIC tribal administrator whose duties included overseeing the Indian Hills office project. In this position of trust, he was subordinate only to the UAIC tribal council. Hinz was a contract employee hired by the UAIC to manage the construction at the Indian Hills office project site. Both Baker and Hinz were required to approve all invoices before the UAIC tribal council would sign checks to pay for completed work. During the scheme to defraud the tribe, both Baker and Hinz engaged in conduct to ensure that the tribal council would pay for the inflated and fraudulent invoices submitted by Volen. They were later paid by Volen for their participation in the scheme.
With regard to the tax offense, according to court documents, Volen filed tax returns in which he falsely claimed personal exemptions for Hinz and Baker, and Hinz and Baker filed tax returns in which they falsely claimed to have paid for consulting work that Hinz did for Volen. During the course of the scheme, Volen, Hinz, and Baker used their positions of trust to steal millions of dollars from the UAIC, and they will now face the consequences of their actions.
Key Facts
- State: California
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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