Bismarck, North Dakota News

" As a parent of 4 children, I cannot see how a parent can be so greedy, with a position where you are basically privileged to have being on the reservation and to make it into a mockery, it besides me, I have education and have had the experience of being able to live overseas, and having both of my parents come from the FB reservation, I myself hold those morals, work hard for what you want and what you don't have, doesn't hurt you, don't let $$$ forget where you come from and what your parents have taught you, it doesn;t pay.. what you have is in your heart and your families, "

" This just goes to show how corrupt the "leaders in society" r becoming. I have a crazy idea. If we take away religion and money what motifs would there be for people to be corrupt. Money doesnt mean what it used to. All it is is a statistic locked in a computer. These r the root of most problems whether u like to face it or not. "

" It is a secret.. "

" I was just wondering how two of these fine people got off with probation. When one of the individuals that helped the state and gov't got seven months. It seems like they had some help somewhere. I want to know why all their assets are not being seized and auctioned off to pay for their depts. That is what would happen with any other person. "

" I am just like you. I don't want to put my name up either. "

" And who are you? Family member? "

" Its funny how all these people can bash on others and not have the courage to go and tell these people what you are truely thinking. I hope you people are ashamed of yourselves for how you bad mouth and belittle people through anonymous comments. Grow a backbone and say it to their faces! "

" OMG these people need more time..way more time....i think i can remember when melissa had all this money she had a nice big suburban which at the time now that i think about it had gov. license plates on ..anyway she came up north the rez and we partied geez.. for dayz on in and she was supplying alll the booze ....so i guess i feel a little guilty for using some of the money. thats ok i guess i had a blast and it was all on her and now her bunz are in jail LOL a big ol laugh at her "

" I would just like to know how Paul Fredericks got of with just probation? He is already a convicted felon!!!! why not a harsher punishment. He is not even supposed to have worked at the school or with any children. So how is it that he got off so easily????????? "

" Why would a school custodian need training? How tough could it be???? "

" And they are supposed to be teaching our children honesty and integrety. "

" Kudos???? Where do you get your facts. The "Business Manager" was right there helping herself to whatever she could get for herself and her family. Sure wish someone would pay for my hotel rom whenever I wanted to go to Bismarck or wherever. If she did such a bang up job why was she signing the checks and also going on trips/meetings? Just remember....what goes around comes around. "

" The Janitor and his wife have a string of horses that the Twin Buttes Elementary School has obviously helped purchase with embezzeled money. Why doesn't the Federal government sieze their assests or receive the money when they sell one of their horses. How do they sleep at night? "

" The business manager has only been an employee of the Twin Buttes School for 7 years, The investigation began shortly after she began her employment. As we have learned from the embezzerlers, this criminal activity has been going on long before she every came aboard. I believe she deserves a round of applause for helping catch the thieves that have been active for many years in abusing and stealing the funds of the Twin Buttes School. Kudus--Business Manager!!! "

" Part of Janet's duties as business manager was to ensure that money was being spent properly. That is why two signatures are needed on the checks. She should not have signed anything that did not seem proper. She was aware of that. She too benefited from this whole mess. She kept a job that paid good, she had family insurance paid by the school(even though the board went on record to only provide single coverage to all employees, she received stipends, and she also got to travel. In fact, she went to the state fair, the circus, and almost monthly FISBA meetings. In my opinion, none of this could have occurred without her. It's not like she just turned a blind eye to this mess. By signing the checks, she basically agreed with the acts. She knew (or should have known) how the school system works. Check the ND century codes. And yes, I know that the charges were federal and not state. The century codes make it very clear how the system is supposed to work. A board member isn't suppose to have any authority as an individual. The power comes from the actions of the board through majority vote. Of course, it doesn't always work that way obviously. That is why the safeguard of two signatures is in place. Janet should have never signed improper checks(WHETHER OR NOT SHE LOST HER JOB). TBS is very unique because it receives both state and federal/tribal money. "

" This is laughable..."The principal told the judge that she blamed school business manager Janet Lorenz for not doing anything to prevent the criminal use of school money." What could she do? The principal and the school board president were her bosses. I suppose she could have quit her job and reported the criminal activity, but no one would have done anything anyway! Look how hard it was just to get them removed from the school board! Clearly, the principal is not taking responsibility for her part in these crimes. The school board ran this school with an iron fist and it was one of those situations where "if you can't beat them, join them", which most of them did. Hence, they were all caught up in this criminal activity! "

" What happens to the restitution money? Does it go to the TB school or back to the Federal Gov.? How does this help the kids of the school if it goes back to the Fed. Gov.? If it goes back to the Fed. why is everyone complaining about taxes? And to "bigger fish" I agree look back in the archives, article dated May 20, 2005 lists Ivetta of stealing about $33,000. Even if she turned states evidence how will this money be returned? There are a lot of questions about the whole Tribal System. What about Janet Lorenz; will she have to account for all the money she took from the school also? Too many questions and not enough answers. Lauren Donovqan; maybe this is something you could look into and report back to us. "

" What a waste of tax money. This is one of the reasons taxes should be elective. The state, federal, county, and cities have so many avenues of revenue that they should not be getting or income to waste also. Drop the income tax. "

" Very light sentences all the way around for what they did. Not really much justice in america anymore. "

" I think what people may be missing here is that the Feds may have recieved a treasure trove of valuable info from some of these now convicted felons and now have bigger fish to fry up, remember many of these former board members also sat on other boards where crimanal activity was sure to have gone on so when they were faced with actual jail time they rolled over on anybody they could to save their own rear ends ,that tactic is as old as time ,what the heck it sure worked for Ivetta. "

" Well, it appears if you are going to commit crimes you should do it in North Dakota where justice is applied in such a manner that it pays to do the crime because you are not going to get the time. "

" What! Whats this, the janitor in the drum, Paul Fredericks, does no time and when goes home his broom and mop are waiting for him at the Twin Buttes School. Not a very nice showing to the kids, at least put a mask or bag on your head when you go to work. "

" I don't know why people are so shocked at this treatment. I can tell that you have not worked with the rez. Crime and justice are slanted. As for the amount of money the school had access to, I know that what is on the books as avaiable is not always what is shown as available for the students. School Boards "FIND" the money for their needs, not the students! "

" Let me get this straight, they stole $80,000 between the two of them…they got caught and they have to pay the money back, plus probation and community service. So basically the money they took was just a 0% interest loan? Where do I sign up for the Twin Buttes School Board? I could sure use some of that money. "

" And these folks were protected by the former Chairman of our tribe!!! "

" These individuals are sorry they got caught but if they didn't get caught, they would be doing the same thing! Where is the justice for students? "

" "Yet people kept electing these thieves back into office." This is perhaps the saddest part of the whole deal. "

" I agree with you: ethnicity should not affect sentencing(more correctly race). I also believe that race should not affect the investigation or indictment stages of criminal investigations (neither should family relations). Of those initially investigated, the person not indicted was the only one with a close relative on the TAT board. The safeguard of having two signatures should have prevented all of this mess. In my opinion, a person is directly receiving personal benefit by allowing wrongdoing to continue. Fear of losing your job is not an excuse. If a person is afraid for his/her personal safety(or that of his/her family's), our judicial system is designed to provide protection. Besides that, I hope that "society" doesn't believe that just because someone is enrolled in a tribe, that person is more likely to commit an act of violence. The people of TB are NOT "a bunch of wild Indians"!!! Enough with the excuses!!! INDICT ALL OF THOSE GUILTY (past and present)!!! After 18 months of investigation, the paperwork should have spoken for itself. No one should have gotten immunity(that is, if they actually did- I'm not sure). As far as sentencing is concerned, there are pre-established guidelines that the judge must follow. "

" Easy come........Easy go........? i just cant for the life of me understand why a school has that amount of funding available that so much could be stolen and still remain operating. In my way of thinking, this means that the funding was more then $665,000.00 in excess. What's up with that?....or is that going to be investigated also? That in turn makes me wonder, how many more of these little schools are being paid in excess and why? Does this bother anybody else? It's been claimed that the students didnt suffer from the money being taken and obviously it didn't cause the school to shut down like many small schools in the state have had to. Why did they have it then? "

" these people got very light sentences, they should've gotten a more severe sentence, i could just imagine them with all that $$$$$ bet they had nice cars and very good vacations where all of those kids that are affected at the school will never experience gettin off the rez and enjoying things like that. To many of are so called tribal leaders simply cannot handle the position they've been put in,, always some kind of scamming goin on with thses ndn programs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "

" This whole thing is a great crime and all of the people involved in stealing money from the school have received very light punishment. No matter what the ethnic back round of anyone involved in a crime such as this, they should have stiffer sentences. One can only wonder how much was taken in the years prior to the three years in question. The ones that suffer from this are the students. "