$17M Indian tribe construction scheme involved condo in South Lake Tahoe

Darrell Hinz was the trusted construction manager hired by the United Auburn Indian Community to complete its Indian Hills Road office project.

Instead, Hinz became enmeshed in a fraud scheme that federal investigators determined would ultimately suck $17 million out of the project in fraudulently inflated invoices.

The money ended up paying for luxuries that included a $70,000 BMW, a condo in South Lake Tahoe and a new swimming pool.

When the illegal scheme unraveled, the two others involved – former tribal manager Gregory Scott Baker, 48, of Newcastle, and project contractor Bart Wayne Volen, 54, of San Diego – would plead guilty to fraud and money laundering charges.

The final piece in the puzzle of fraud and deceit, Darrell Patrick Hinz, 48, of Cameron Park, pleaded guilty Friday to conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud, conspiring to launder money and filing a false tax return. The charges were filed in Sacramento’s federal court and focused on the trio’s scheme to defraud the Auburn tribe, which owns Thunder Valley Casino, of more than $17 million in over-inflated construction funds meant for completion of its new Auburn office complex.

U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner said that Hinz and the other defendants have agreed to pay at least $17 million in restitution to the United Auburn Indian Community.

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