The former finance director for the Passamaquoddy Tribe who was fired last year for lying about his identity pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Bangor to charges of stealing more than $20,000 from the eastern Maine tribe.

Charles Fourcloud, 59, has been in federal custody since April 25, when he was arrested in northern California after federal authorities in Maine obtained a warrant charging him with one count of theft from an Indian tribal government and three counts of embezzlement from an Indian tribal organization.

Fourcloud was fired as finance director of the Passamquoddy’s Pleasant Point reservation government in September, shortly after tribal police discovered he was in fact Arlynn Knudsen, who in 1997 pleaded guilty to conspiracy, money laundering, and – with four others – embezzlement of $2.66 million from a Lakota Sioux college in South Dakota.

Fourcloud’s sentencing date before Judge John Woodcock Jr. was not immediately available. He will face as much as 10 years in prison on the theft charge and as much as five years in prison on each of the three embezzlement charges.

He also faces fines of as much as $1 million.

Scott Dolan can be reached at 791-6304 or at:

sdolan@pressherald.com

Twitter: @scottddolan


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