Rushmore State News

Two men from Omaha, Nebraska, have been sentenced to federal prison for their involvement in the interstate transportation of stolen money. U.S. District Judge Charles B. Kornmann delivered the sentences on September 15, 2025.

Roberto Carlos Gonzalez Miranda, 24, received a sentence of five years and ten months in federal prison. Roberto Orellana, 46, was sentenced to four years and two months. Both were ordered to pay $352,000 in restitution to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Additionally, Miranda must pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund; Orellana is required to pay $200.

The two men were indicted by a federal grand jury in July 2024 and pleaded guilty on June 3, 2025.

The charges stem from an incident on February 25, 2024. Early that morning, staff at the Grand River Casino near Mobridge, South Dakota received a call from someone claiming to be a U.S. Government official. The caller said the casino owed $700,000 in audit fees and warned that fines would follow if an immediate down payment was not made. Following instructions from the caller, casino employees removed cash from the vault and transported it to Mitchell, South Dakota as payment.

Miranda and Orellana had occasionally worked as money mules for a transnational criminal organization during the winter of 2023-2024. On February 25th they were sent by this organization to Mitchell to collect funds taken from the casino under false pretenses. The individual who orchestrated the fraud has not been identified and authorities have not recovered the stolen funds.

The investigation involved multiple agencies including the FBI, South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), Mitchell Police Department, and Corson County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Carl Thunem prosecuted the case.

Both defendants were immediately remanded into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service.