An Anchorage woman pleaded guilty this week to embezzling nearly $175,000 from a now-defunct tribal organization that she once led.
Joni Bryant, 44, will repay the money she embezzled from the Alaska Native Harbor Seal Commission to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, according to a federal plea agreement filed last month.
The Alaska Native Harbor Seal Commission was primarily funded through federal grants from NOAA and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the plea agreement said.
“The grants were intended to support tribal nonprofits in collecting harbor seal and Steller sea lion harvest data as well as conduct bio sampling to monitor the health of marine mammal populations in Alaska,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska said in a statement Tuesday.
The organization has not been operational since 2017, according to NOAA.
Bryant embezzled the funds from 2014 until 2016 while she worked as the executive director of the organization, according to the plea agreement. During that time, she managed federal grants and oversaw the operation’s day-to-day finances, federal prosecutors said in the statement. Bryant was removed from her position in October 2016, the plea agreement said.
Bryant used the commission’s funds to pay for personal travel, bills and shopping purchases, federal prosecutors said.
She was indicted about a year ago on one charge of embezzlement from an Alaska tribal organization and two counts of embezzlement from an organization receiving federal funds. Bryant pleaded guilty Monday to embezzlement from an Alaska tribal organization and the other two charges are set to be dismissed at sentencing, according to the plea agreement.
Bryant is scheduled to be sentenced in September.