Tribal chief charged in immigration scam




Associated Press - September 7, 2007 12:35 PM ET

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - The leader of an unrecognized American Indian tribe has been charged in Wichita with devising an immigration scheme.

Malcolm Webber -- also known as Grand Chief Thunderbird IV -- was charged today with three federal counts. He's accused of selling tribe memberships to immigrants by claiming they could obtain U.S. citizenship papers with them.

Officials in Texas, Kansas, Missouri and several other states report that foreign nationals are showing up with documents purchased from Webber.

The immigrants are offering the documents as proof of citizenship when seeking Social Security cards, driver's licenses and other forms of ID.

More than 300 sets of documents from the Kaweah Indian Nation were submitted to the Social Security office in Wichita.

http://www.kwes.com/global/story.asp?s=7041463