By Roxana Hegeman

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The self-proclaimed leader of a group that claims to be an American Indian tribe was found guilty Wednesday of defrauding immigrants by falsely telling them tribal membership would make them U.S. citizens.

Malcolm Webber was found guilty on six charges arising from the unrecognized tribe’s efforts to sell tribal memberships. The federal court jury found him not guilty on one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Following the verdicts, the jury returned to court to hear arguments in the government’s efforts to seek forfeiture of proceeds from the alleged criminal acts.

Prosecutors argued that Webber, 70, of Bel Aire, marketed memberships in the Kaweah Indian Nation by telling immigrants the tribal identification documents could be used to get Social Security cards, U.S. passports, health care benefits and driver’s licenses.

Webber’s defense attorney, Kurt Kerns, argued that his client had no criminal intent and only sought to help undocumented immigrants become legal residents.

The defense called no witnesses during the trial.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Anderson told jurors the Kaweah Indian Nation is Webber’s invention.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs ruled in 1984 that the Kaweah group had no historical link to American Indian tribes and that Webber — who calls himself Grand Chief Thunderbird IV — is not an Indian.

Federal prosecutors charged the tribe and 11 people last year. Charges have been dismissed against the tribe and two defendants, one remains a fugitive and seven others have pleaded guilty to reduced charges.

Robert Visnaw, a special agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, testified that agents seized Kaweah enrollment rolls with the names of 13,142 people, plus an additional 2,000 to 3,000 applications that had not yet been processed.

Visnaw testified he had compared 1,000 of those memberships with ICE databases, and it appeared only 4 percent to 5 percent were lawful residents or citizens.

TRUMBULL, Conn. (AP) — Aurelius H. Piper Sr., hereditary chief of the Golden Hill Paugussett Indian Tribe, died on Aug. 3 at the tribe’s reservation in Trumbull. He was 92.

Gary Guisinger, 1997

Aurelius H. Piper Sr.

His death was announced by tribal officials.

Mr. Piper, known as Big Eagle, was named chief in 1959 by his mother, Chieftess Rising Star, and later assumed responsibility for the tribe’s quarter-acre reservation in Trumbull.

Though small, the tribe, which has small reservations in Trumbull and Colchester, has been recognized by the State of Connecticut for more than 300 years. In 2004, however, the Bureau of Indian Affairs rejected the tribe’s request for federal recognition.

In the fight to be recognized, the Paugussetts filed claims to more than 700,000 acres of land, setting off a flurry of legal challenges. The land claims, which stretched from Middletown to Wilton and from Greenwich through lower Westchester County in New York, were eventually dropped, but could have been revived if the tribe had received federal recognition.

In 1993, Mr. Piper’s son Kenneth, also known as Moonface Bear, was the central figure in a 10-week armed standoff between state police and the Colchester faction of the tribe, over the sale of untaxed cigarettes on the reservation. Kenneth Piper died in 1996.

Mr. Piper traveled the world as a representative of the Golden Hill Tribe, Native Americans and other minority groups.

He served on many boards and commissions throughout Connecticut, fighting for the rights of American Indians and other minorities. He also served as a spiritual adviser to Native Americans in prison.

Mr. Piper served in the United States military during World War II, and took part in the troop landings in North Africa, according to the tribe.

He is survived by his wife, the former Marsha Conte; five children; and several stepchildren, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.