Free Other Notice - District Court of Arizona - Arizona

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JON M. SANDS Federal Public Defender 2 District of Arizona 3 850 W. Adams, Suite 201 Phoenix, Arizona 85007 4 Telephone: (602) 382-2727 MILAGROS A. CISNEROS State Bar # 020410 6 [email protected] Asst. Federal Public Defender 7 Attorney for Defendant Bella Ben-Henry
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF ARIZONA United States of America, Plaintiff, v. Bella Ben-Henry, Defendant. The United States and defendant Bella Ben-Henry, in accordance with the orders of the court, submit their joint statement of the case, attached hereto. Respectfully submitted: October 31, 2005. JON M. SANDS Federal Public Defender s/Daniel R. Drake DANIEL R. DRAKE Assistant U.S. Attorney s/Milagros A. Cisneros MILAGROS A. CISNEROS Assistant Federal Public Defender CR 04-1018-PHX-JAT PROPOSED JOINT STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Case 2:04-cr-01018-JAT

Document 100

Filed 10/31/2005

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Joint Statement of the Case This case involves a five count indictment naming Bella Ben-Henry, Frederick Marianito, and Ed Preston as participants in a scheme to make false statements about a matter within the jurisdiction of a federal agency, the Department of Health and Human Services. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) provided a $5 Million grant to the Navajo Nation for construction of child care facilities on the reservation and those funds were to be used by the Navajo Nation to fund construction of these facilities. The Navajo Nation entered into two contracts with the contractor, Pat Chee Miller, to use grant funds to produce and set up 17 modular units at 17 locations on the Navajo Reservation where they were to be used for child care day care centers, among other things. The indictment charges that defendants Bella Ben-Henry, Frederick Marianito, and Ed Preston falsely certified, or caused the false certification of payment requests submitted to the Navajo Nation for payment under the above contracts. The certifications were false, according to the indictment, because they indicated the work had been completed to various stages when, in fact, the work had not progressed to that point. Indeed, according to the indictment, the contractor was paid for units that were not ready for use by the date required in the contracts. The contractor is alleged to have received over $600,000 by virtue of false certifications and, as a result, was paid for performance under the contracts when the work was not done. The defendant has entered a plea of not guilty to each of the charges in the indictment. Her plea bring this case on for trial.

Case 2:04-cr-01018-JAT

Document 100

Filed 10/31/2005

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