Michigan Tribe Defrauded, Former CEO Gets 78 Months In Prison

A Florida resident, Randall Dunican, 69, was sentenced by a Michigan federal judge to 78 months or six-and-a-half years in prison for orchestrating a scam that caused over $1.1 million in losses to the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. This sentencing took place in a Michigan federal court, under the jurisdiction of U.S. District Judge Robert J. Jonker.

Based in Fort Pierce, Florida, Dunican was ordered by Jonker to follow his imprisonment with a three-year period of supervised release. In addition to this, he was instructed to return $1.1 million as restitution. Furthermore, Dunican was mandated to forfeit $430,350, which corresponds to the personal profit he gained from his deceptive scheme, as outlined by a Department of Justice press release.

Dunican, who was formally charged in 2021, entered a guilty plea and settled on a plea agreement last year. Although his sentencing was originally slated for February, it got postponed due to an incident in Virginia. Dunican was taken into custody there for shooting himself in an attempt to disguise the act as a botched robbery.

“Every member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians was impacted by this fraudulent scheme,” U.S. Attorney Mark Totten said in a statement. “Instead of using the funds for the benefit of all tribal members, Dunican and his co-defendant, attorney Britan Douglas Groom, lied to the tribe and used the money for their personal benefit.”

In January, the 66-year-old Groom was ordered to spend 30 months in jail, repay $1.1 million in restitution, and surrender $302,052, which he had unscrupulously acquired.

Totten, in his statement yesterday, described Dunican’s actions as “exceptionally grave”, considering his fiduciary role as the CEO of the Tribe’s economic advancement corporation. Between December 2015 and December 2016, Dunican was at the helm of GTB LLC, a tribal organization centered around fostering economic prospects for the tribe members’ overall benefit.

Dunican assured the Tribe that he had procured exclusive distribution rights with a specialized water filtration enterprise, R.O. Distributors. He promised the Tribe would profit from investing in R.O. Distributors and by renting water coolers equipped with this unique technology to various Michigan and Florida businesses.

However, it was allegedly revealed in the press release that R.O. Distributors was in reality a dummy company, set up and managed by Dunican and Groom. The Tribe invested almost a million dollars in R.O. Distributors, with over $700,000 of these funds being siphoned into Groom and Dunican’s personal bank accounts through a chain of transactions.

Later, Dunican claimed to the Tribe that he needed more funding as he anticipated business growth. When the Tribe was hesitant, Dunican announced that R.O. Distributors had been bought by High Sierra Distributors, LLC, a multi-billion-dollar company, which intended to expand the water filtration business across the nation.

Dunican persuaded Groom to enlist an accomplice who could masquerade as a corporate delegate of High Sierra in a meeting with the Tribe to solicit an additional $2 million in funding. Groom brought in a friend from Illinois who did participate in the meeting, feigning to be a High Sierra corporate executive. However, just after this meeting and before any further funds were allocated, the Tribe unearthed the fact that this person was in actuality a schoolteacher from Illinois. This revelation led to the exposure of the fraudulent scheme and subsequently resulted in Dunican’s dismissal.

“Mr. Dunican and his co-defendant stole money earmarked for investment opportunities, the income from which is designed to provide various forms of assistance to members of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians,” Devin J. Kowalski, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Michigan, said in a statement. “His behavior was an affront to those who trusted him to act in the Tribe’s best interest and is precisely why the FBI works with our partners to investigate those who knowingly defraud organizations and bring them to justice.”

The U.S. Attorney’s press release indicates that the case was probed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, specifically its Detroit Division, and the offices in Lansing and Traverse City. The investigation was supported by the Tribal Police Department of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, as well as the IRS Criminal Investigation. The prosecution of the case was led by Assistant United States Attorney Ronald M. Stella.