BELLINGHAM — A man was indicted last week for allegedly embezzling more than $25,000 from the Lummi Nation while he was working at a gas station and convenience store owned by the tribe.
Preston Joseph Solomon was indicted Feb. 22 in the Western District of Washington of U.S. District Court for one count of embezzlement or theft from an Indian Tribal organization. A complaint had previously been filed against Solomon in federal court in early February, according to federal court records.
Solomon’s arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, March 2.
Solomon was hired in August 2019 as a cashier at the Lummi Bay Market Mini-Mart on Haxton Way. The market is owned by the Lummi Nation and is maintained and operated through the tribal nation’s business arm, the Lummi Commercial Company, according to court records.
The mini-mart is one of three convenience stores and gas stations operated by the Lummi Commercial Company on the Lummi Reservation. All three stores accepted gift cards as a form of payment for merchandise or gas.
The gift cards were typically provided to tribal members through various programs and businesses operated by the Lummi Nation, and were for welfare or promotional purposes, according to court records. Once the value on the cards was used up, the cards were placed into a box behind the counter at the store.
Store supervisors had the ability to reload funds onto a gift card, but supervisors were instructed by Lummi Commercial Company that reloading the cards was not allowed as a normal practice, the federal court records state.
If someone did want to reload a gift card, the supervisor would use a shared generic employee pin to load the cards using a machine in a separate room of the store.
Payment for the amount of money added to the cards was supposed to be collected at the same time and logged into the store’s point-of-sale system.
The point-of sale-system and the system used for processing the gift cards operated independently of each other, and no controls were put in place to ensure that money was collected once a gift card was reloaded, court records show.
“As a result, gift cards could be loaded with funds without ever receiving a corresponding payment, and this went undetected for months,” federal court records state.
In late November 2020, Lummi Commercial Company management began investigating several instances where small quantities of cash were missing from the store.
During the investigation, management found that from March to November 2020, money was being loaded onto gift cards but no payments were collected, according to court records.
Around $25,530 was loaded onto gift cards during those eight months, records show.
After comparing employee time cards, management determined Solomon was consistently working during the times the gift cards were reloaded with funds, court records state.
Solomon was promoted to supervisor in early February 2020 and received the generic employee pin for reloading gift cards at that time. In mid-March 2020, Solomon reloaded his first gift card for approximately $120, but did not pay any money to the store, the records state.
Through Nov. 15, 2020, Solomon allegedly reloaded 120 additional gift cards without paying the store the amounts loaded onto the cards, court records state.
“The recharge transactions for which no corresponding payments were collected began soon after Solomon became a supervisor and stopped shortly before Solomon was placed on unpaid administrative leave” in mid-November 2020, the records state.
Solomon was placed on leave Nov. 19 and later fired from his job, the records show.
During an interview in early November with two FBI special agents and a Lummi Nation Police detective, Solomon said he recharged a few gift cards to use for gas and said he never sold the cards to anyone. He said he also gave a few cards to his friends, according to court records.
Solomon later admitted he performed all of the gift card reloads after he was shown the analysis comparing gift card reloads with store employee timecards.
Solomon also said he didn’t realize he had reloaded so many gift cards, the court records state.
