The former Executive Director of the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission, who was charged with embezzling $475,000 from the organization, pled guilty to two counts of theft, a count of misapplication of funds, as well as a count of money laundering in Federal court yesterday.

Maggie Ahmaogak, age 62, went before U.S. District Court yesterday and admitted to those counts. In an agreement with Federal Prosecutors, one count of Wire Fraud was dismissed.

Ahmaogak, who was the Executive Director of the Commission from 1990 until she was terminated in 2007, was responsible for managing money from the AEWC as well as funds received from the North Slope Borough.

Beginning in 2004, Ahmaogak, according to court documents, started paying herself bonuses, took payroll advances that were never repaid, and began withdrawing cash from AEWC for her own personal use.

Records show that she used Commission funds for snow machines, a down payment on a Hummer, plane tickets, groceries, medical bills, as well as several gambling trips to Las Vegas, New Orleans, and Washington state.

When evidence of wrong-doing was found, Ahmaogak was terminated from her position as Executive Director of the Commission. Teresa Judkins was tapped to take her place at the top of the commission. But, Judkins lasted only a year in that spot, then in 2008 Judkins was terminated from the commission as well for stealing over $100,000 from their funds. According to court records, Judkin stole over $40,000 in 2007 and another $60,000 in 2008. She is scheduled to appear in court on these charges tomorrow to plead guilty to two counts of theft and misapplication of funds.

The Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission is a non-profit that was formed in 1976 primarily to protect subsistence hunting of Bowhead whales by the people of the region. It was the staff of that non-profit organization that contacted authorities when irregularities in accounting were uncovered. The commission has cooperated fully with federal authorities throughout the case.

Maggie Ahmaogak was indicted just before her husband, George Ahmaogak was up for re-election for the North Slope Borough mayor position. He posted a statement on his website in response to her indictment. In that statement, he said, “Today, my wife, Maggie, was handed an indictment by a federal grand jury, accusing her of theft from the AEWC– these accusations are baseless. My wife has been cooperating with federal investigators for more than nine-months, and we cannot believe her cooperation has ended with a sudden indictment one week prior to the election. My wife will be entering a not-guilty plea.”

George Ahmaogak would go on to lose the election to Charlotte Brower in a run-off election.

Maggie Ahmaogak is scheduled for sentencing before Judge Gleason on July 23rd.