Woman charged with embezzling over $100K from Spokane Tribe of Indians

A Davenport, Washington, woman is accused of embezzling from the Spokane Tribe of Indians over $100,000 in funds used to support children in foster care, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office – Eastern District of Washington.

A federal grand jury returned an indictment Nov. 7 charging Tawhnee W. Colvin with 25 counts of bank fraud and one count of embezzlement and theft from tribal organizations, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office news release and online federal court records.

Colvin was employed as assistant director of the Spokane Tribe of Indians’ Department of Health and Human Services and Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS) from September 2019 to October 2023, the release said. As part of her employment, Colvin had access to the Spokane Tribe of Indians’ bank account that held funds for children who were in foster care.

The indictment indicated Colvin made more than 50 fraudulent money transfers, totaling $50,880, from the DCFS bank account to her personal bank account between October 2019 and November 2023, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The indictment also alleged that between September 2019 and April 2021, Colvin made cash withdrawals totaling $49,950 for which DCFS has no documentation or receipts supporting that any of the funds were provided to caregivers.

“Individuals in positions of trust have an obligation to protect the funds they oversee,” Vanessa Waldref, U.S. Attorney for Eastern Washington, said in the release. “This is all the more important for resources dedicated to vulnerable members of our community, such as children in foster care. My office takes fraud seriously, and will continue to work with our federal, tribal, state, and local law enforcement to expose and prosecute public corruption, self-dealing, and fraud.”