Tama woman sentenced to 2 years for stealing nephew’s Meskwaki Settlement funds

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Tama woman was sentenced Thursday to more than two years in federal prison for draining nearly all her nephew’s trust fund — more than $380,000 of his Meskwaki per capita funds and Social Security benefits — which was mostly spent on diamond jewelry for herself.

Nancy Lee Johnson, 69, previously pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to one of the seven counts of wire fraud after she was indicted in 2022.

U.S. District Judge C.J. Williams sentenced Johnson to 33 months in federal prison and ordered her to pay $387,213 in restitution.

According to plea agreement, Johnson’s nephew, a member of the Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Tama, couldn’t manage his finances due to “mental disabilities.” Johnson was appointed as his guardian in 2011.

In 2017, she filed a petition in Meskwaki Tribal Court to become her nephew’s permanent guardian and conservator, the plea stated. In the petition, she said her nephew couldn’t care for himself and make important decisions concerning his finances.

The court granted the petition, which stated she was to “protect and preserve” her nephew’s estate, in 2018.

During the time she was her nephew’s guardian and conservator, his assets totaled at least $416,044, according to court documents.

According to the plea, she used her position as guardian and conservator to transfer money from her nephew’s trust fund into an account she opened in her name for the unauthorized purchases. Johnson was able to conceal her scheme based on her guardianship and claimed that she was acting on the nephew’s behalf.

Johnson also opened a checking account in her nephew’s name and listed herself as the owner or authorized signer, according to the plea. She also had a personal checking account at the same bank.

In March 2018, Johnson activated a debit card for the nephew’s account, which she controlled because he didn’t have a card. She made unauthorized purchases on the card which included 13 diamond jewelry purchases, including rings, earrings and necklaces, and two purebred American Bully dogs, according to the plea.

Between Dec. 14, 2017, and Nov. 8, 2018, Johnson also made six bank transfers of about $295,000, after taxes, from the nephew’s trust fund to the checking account she controlled. The six transfers ranged from $2,000 to $150,000.

Between Nov. 3, 2017, and July 15, 2019, Johnson directly transferred about $123,800 from her nephew’s account that she controlled to her personal account.

When the tribal court terminated her guardianship and conservatorship on Aug. 16, 2019, the nephew’s account had a $1,871 balance.

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