Alison J. Ramsdell U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the District of South Dakota
United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell has announced the sentencing of Mariah Pearl Sazue, a resident of Fort Thompson, South Dakota. Sazue was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Eric C. Schulte for embezzling funds from an Indian Tribal Organization.
Sazue, aged 35, will serve three months in federal prison and two years of supervised release. She is also required to pay restitution amounting to $44,627.25 to the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe and a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.
The indictment against Sazue was issued by a federal grand jury in September 2024, and she pleaded guilty on April 17, 2025.
During her tenure as Human Resources Director for the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe from June 2022 to May 2024, Sazue submitted falsified timesheets with forged signatures and inflated overtime hours starting in December 2022. She accumulated $44,627.25 in excess overtime pay before being dismissed for fraud in May 2024. When confronted about her actions, Sazue stated that she would never exploit the tribe.
The investigation into this case was conducted by the FBI and the United States Attorney’s Office, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Carl Thunem handling prosecution duties.
Following her sentencing, Sazue was placed under the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.