KESHENA – Five members of the Menominee Tribe have been charged in federal court with conspiring to steal more than $400,000 worth of timber from the tribe.

A federal grand jury returned a one-count indictment Wednesday against Melvin T. Caldwell Jr., 43, Chauncey J. Webster Jr., 49, and Derrin B. Webster, 30, all of Neopit; Arthur P. “Herman” Fish, 49, of Keshena; and Dugan R. Webster, 41, of Shawano.

Caldwell and Dugan Webster already have jury trials scheduled for April 29 in U.S. District Court in Green Bay. Cases have not proceeded beyond initial charges against the other three men.

The men contracted with Menominee Tribal Enterprises, which manages the tribal forests and runs the tribe’s sawmill, to cut logs. But the men cut more trees than the contract called for and sold the excess lumber to private sawmills outside the reservation, according to the indictment.

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The illegal operation took place on more than 100 occasions from January 2012 through September 2018, according to the indictment.

Menominee Tribal Chairman Douglas Cox called the incident a “betrayal of trust by native logging contractors and others who participated.”

The tribe takes great pride in the management of the forest, the tribe’s largest trust asset, he said. He thanked the investigative work of Menominee Tribal Enterprises staff, tribal police, the tribal conservation department, the FBI, and the U.S. Attorney’s office.