Chippewa Cree official pleads guilty in corruption probe

HELENA, Mont. (AP) – The Chippewa Cree tribe's former roads department head and environmental health leader has pleaded guilty to taking bribes and stealing tribal funds.

Timothy Rosette entered his guilty pleas to three criminal counts Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Great Falls.

Prosecutors say Havre businessman Shad Huston gave Rosette cash in exchange for awarding contracts to Huston's companies for work on the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation.

Huston has pleaded not guilty to bribery and to submitting fraudulent invoices for the work the company did.

Prosecutors also accused Rosette of accepting bribes and gifts from another contractor and one of its owners, James Eastlick Jr. Eastlick was previously convicted in the wide-ranging federal corruption investigation on the reservation.

Rosette is to be sentenced on Oct. 29.