Former Soboba Chairman Pleads Guilty to Accepting Bribes from Vendors

Robert Salgado Sr., former chairman of the Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians, pleaded guilty last week to federal charges related to his acceptance of approximately $875,000 in bribes from tribal vendors and concealing that income from the IRS, according to a press release issued on Oct. 5 by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California.

Salgado, 68, pleaded guilty to two felony charges — bribery and subscribing to a false tax return — before U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson.

In a plea agreement, Salgado admitted that he accepted a total of $874,995 in bribe payments from five vendors who did business with the Soboba Band. The payments to Salgado, which were made by vendors hoping to obtain or being allowed to keep contracts with the tribe, were given to Salgado in the form of cash, payments made to his creditors and checks payable to an entity controlled by Salgado.

Salgado is expected to be sentenced early next year, and he faces a statutory maximum sentence of 13 years in federal prison. The plea agreement contemplates a sentence of 87 months to 108 months in prison, but the actual sentence will be determined by Judge Pregerson, the release said.

NIGC to Visit Soboba

Inspectors from the National Indian Gaming Commission will visit the Soboba Casino this week and talk with tribal officials, according to the Associated Press. Ongoing tensions between the tribe and the Riverside, Calif., Sheriff’s Department last week prompted Sheriff Stanley Sniff to ask the NIGC to close the casino. Read about it here .

Rhetoric and Tensions Continue at Soboba

Leaders of the Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians said Wednesday that they would continue to stop Riverside County Deputies at the reservation gate unless they were responding to an emergency. This announcement follows on the heels of Riverside Sheriff Stanley Sniff’s announcement that he had asked the National Indian Gaming Commission to revoke the band’s casino license.

Riverside County sheriff’s deputies have shot and killed four tribal members since December. And despite promises for better communications from both parties, the situation continues to deteriorate. County law enforcement officials have said they will arrest anyone who tries to delay them in entering the reservation. Read more here.

Riverside Sheriff Says Soboba's Gaming License Should be Pulled

Riverside County, Calif., Sheriff Stanley Sniff told the county Board of Supervisors that he sent a letter Monday to the National Indian Gaming Commission, requesting that it suspend the gaming license for the Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians. Sniff cited the band's “propensity to violence” and apparent reluctance to allow deputies on tribal land. Read more about it here.

Soboba and Riverside Sheriff Officials Agree to Communicate

Weeks after deadly gun battles between Riverside County sheriff's deputies and Soboba tribal members, leaders from the two sides shook hands Monday over an agreement they say will help them communicate and cooperate more effectively.

Relations between the 900-member tribe and the department have been strained since three deadly shootings and a series of police pursuits that ended with gunfire on the reservation east of San Jacinto.

Tribal leaders and sheriff's officials began negotiating shortly after shootings, meeting behind closed doors almost every week. The five-page cooperation agreement signed in front of reporters and a handful of tribal members was lauded by Salgado as "a start of better communication." Read more about it here.

Riverside Sheriff and Soboba Try to Make Peace

Riverside County, Calif., Sheriff Stanley Sniff wants to improve relations with tribes in the area, especially the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians, and is taking steps to do that, including appointing an officer to serve as a tribal liaison and recruiting Natives into the force, according to an Associated Press report.

Early this month, two Soboba tribal members were fatally shot by Riverside deputies after the pair opened fire with assault rifles on a tribal guard station, according to a Los Angeles Times report on May 13. There have been a total of six shootings on or near the reservation in recent months, with three, including the latest two, still under investigation.
Last week, Soboba Chairman Robert Salgado had accused deputies of coming to the reservation to "blow people away.”

On May 16, the tribe and sheriff’s department met in a closed-door meeting to work through their differences. Representatives from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the office of Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, the county Board of Supervisors and a federal mediator from the U.S. Department of Justice were also at the meeting. The two met again yesterday at the Soboba Springs Country Club.