It was announced on Friday by a United States Attorney in San Diego that the former Executive Director of the Indian Human Resource Center had been arrested by the FBI.

The arrest was made last Thursday after an indictment was handed by a Grand Jury there. The former Executive Director, 38-year-old David Hedley was charged with eight felony counts of Theft from the San Diego non-profit.

Hedley was only at the helm of the non-profit, whose main goal was to assist in finding employment for Native Americans outside of the tribal setting, for a very short time. He began at his position on September 10, 2012, and remained there until December 11th, 2012. But, in that short period of time, the indictment charges that he stole over $140,000 from the IHRC.

It was disclosed at Hedley’s arraignment that on numerous days, Hedley would make improper draws on the non-profit’s funds and spending the stolen monies at local Indian casinos. Included were two instances pointed to at Friday’s proceedings.

On October 19th, 2012, Hedley withdrew $15,000 from the IHRC bank account at North Island Credit in Mesa, California, then on the same day, purchased the equivalent amount of gambling chips from the Viejas Casino.

A similar instance would happen three short days later on October 12, 2012. On that day, Hedley withdrew $20,000 from IHRC’s account in the NICU branch in Imperial Beach, California and promptly purchased $20,000 worth of chips from the Pala Casino.

Similar events took place where Hedley withdrew over $100,000 of additional funds improperly.

At his arraignment, Hedley pleaded “Not Guilty” to the Theft charges. Magistrate Judge David Bristow of the Central District of California set Hedley’s bail at $100,000 and ordered him to appear in court again on May 9th, 2013.