Danielle Quijada

The Republic | azcentral.com

A former tribal fiduciary was sentenced to 30 months in prison Wednesday after she was convicted of stealing thousands of dollars from vulnerable members of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for Arizona.

Freida Ann Battise-Moore, 55, of Avondale, recently pleaded guilty to theft or embezzlement from an Indian tribal organization. She also was ordered to pay more than $260,000 in restitution.

Battise-Moore was hired by the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community in 2001 as a court-appointed representative for the tribe’s incapacitated members, the attorney’s office said in a statement.

Battise-Moore was a law school graduate and a member of the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Tribe.

As a public fiduciary, Battise-Moore was in charge of handling each of her clients’ financial affairs, including receiving their Social Security and commercial and agricultural lease payments and using their money to pay their rent and medical bills.

Battise-Moore began her “seven-year scheme” to steal from clients in 2006, and she was fired in September 2013 when her misconduct was detected, the attorney’s office said.

The tribe conducted an audit that revealed more than $260,000 had been stolen from 49 clients, the attorney’s office said.

The audit found that Batisse-Moore used the stolen money for expensive sports tickets and gambling, among other things.

U.S. District Judge Steven P. Logan said he decided to enhance her sentencing because of the vulnerability of the victims and Batisse-Moore's abuse of a position of trust, the attorney's office said.

“Ms. Battise-Moore violated the trust of the Community and its members, so the Community petitioned the court that she be incarcerated for her crime,” Delbert Ray Sr., president of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, said in a statement. “The Community takes this matter very seriously and has taken the necessary steps that it will not happen again.”

The Salt River Police Department investigated the case. Dominic Lanza, assistant U.S. attorney, led the prosecution.