A former member of the Shinnecock Indian tribe’s Gaming Authority has been sentenced to three years’ probation in the hacking of another tribal member’s e-mails in the midst of an internal feud that doomed the tribe’s plans for a massive casino complex on Long Island.
Karen Hunter, who pleaded guilty to a single count of misdemeanor computer fraud, received the sentence from a U.S. District Court magistrate in Central Islip, N.Y.
The hacking dates back to February 2012 when, according to news reports, the e-mails were stolen from the account of Chuck Randall with the help of third parties that were paid to perform the break-in.
Randall was one of several tribal members behind a plan to develop a gaming resort with a hotel and other attractions at Long Island’s Nassau Coliseum. Their proposal was at odds with the Shinnecocks’ official plan at the time for a partnership with Gateway Casino Resorts, which the Randall faction opposed, contending it favored Gateway at the expense of the tribe. The e-mails were pilfered allegedly with the intention of discrediting Randall and opponents of the Gateway deal.
Speaking at Hunter’s sentencing, Randall told the court she “weaponized” his e-mails when she accused him and four others―two of them members of the now-defunct Gaming Authority, two of them tribal trustees―of intentionally trying to harm the tribe for personal gain, calling it “a blatant lie she used to deliberately fraud the Shinnecock Nation”.
He told the court she should have received a tougher sentence, describing her actions as “criminal” and claiming they “led to the upheaval of the Shinnecock Nation’s 221-year-old government, the disruption of tribal programs, the lost opportunity for the Nation to regain between 2,200 to 4,000 acres of our aboriginal territory, and the loss of a multibillion-dollar economic opportunity and tribal economic self-sufficiency for generations.”
“Your honor,” he said, “she did not just steal my personal e-mails. She stole the Nation’s future.”
