GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) – A woman with familial roots in Gridley and her husband have recently been sued by the Berry Creek Rancheria of Maidu Indians, for $38 million in damages.

The Lawsuit filed October 22^nd by the tribe against former Gold Country Casino employees Deborah Howard (Brown) and Jesse Brown, alleges that the two carried out a pattern of fraud and money laundering, to the tune of $1.3 million.

Howard, who worked as Chief Financial Officer and Brown, as Tribal Administrator for the casino are accused of hiding their relationship and resulting marriage from the tribe during their employment, while allegedly misappropriating tribal assets together. This was done in four ways: 1) Howard issued a secret credit card to Mr. Brown on which they would make more than $1.3 million in personal expenditures; (2) Misappropriating over $200,000 in cash withdrawals over the course of five holiday seasons that were meant to provide Christmas gifts to tribal youth; (3) Skimming more than $1.1 million of cash receipts from the Smoke Shop operated by Berry Creek before depositing the remainder of the funds into the Tribe’s bank account; and (4) giving themselves upwards of $250,000 in unauthorized payroll distributions by manipulating the system.

The pair is accused of using tribal funds to bankroll trips to Las Vegas, lavish hotel stays, concert tickets, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) tickets, trips to Disneyland and more.

Business owned by Howard and Brown, the Exchange restaurant in Oroville and the Makeup Room and Company in Gridley are both mentioned in the suit, the tribe claiming that they were established with misappropriated funds.

Subsequently, the writing is on the wall for the two businesses. While the fate of The Exchange is not 100 percent clear, The Makeup Room and Company located in downtown Gridley, which is comprised of a boutique and salon providing hair, nail, massage therapy and aesthetician services, will be closing and liquidating inventory. The salon services portion of the business will continue to operate as usual. Cindy Stowe of Cindy’s Country and More plans to open a clothing boutique in the building and combine forces with the salon portion, creating a new downtown business, Cindy’s & Co.