By Roger Harnack
Chronicle staff

     NESPELEM — A Colville Tribal Police Department employee will face three years in jail and $15,000 in fines during a March 6 sentencing hearing before Tribal Court Judge Elizabeth Fry.
     A tribal jury Feb. 20 convicted Deanna Heath, age not released, Davenport, on six counts each of embezzlement, fraud and misuse of public funds, Special Prosecuting Attorney Peter C. Erbland said.
     Under tribal law, each count carries a maximum sentence of 180 days in jail and up to a $2,500 fine.
     The sentencing will also take place in tribal court.
     According to Erbland — a former prosecutor and current private practice attorney and partner with Paine Hamblen in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho — Heath was a tribal police administrative assistant.
     During the period from November 2006 through June 2007, she processed six fictitious invoices for auto glass repair, falsely billing the department for more than $4,000 for work completed by her family business, Wild Horse Auto Glass of Davenport.
     The embezzlement came to light when a parole officer questioned “irregularities” in the budget for auto glass replacement that never occurred, Erbland said. The parole officer contacted tribal police.
     A subsequent investigation determined the tribe had been falsely billed for glass replacements in six vehicles, including four police, one parole and one animal control vehicle.
     “The tribal police investigation was assisted by the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office,” Erbland said. “That assistance was very helpful.”