A woman who's been known to disavow the federal government was sentenced Friday to 15 months in federal prison for defrauding the government.
Gloria Teneuvial Ward was also ordered to pay $32,340 in restitution to the Social Security Administration and ordered to stay away from the "bad influences" in her life for at least 36 months following her release.In handing down the sentence, U.S. District Judge Thomas Greene said he would recommend that Ward serve her sentence in a prison far away from a religious group known as the "House of Chaney."
The group's leader, John Perry Chaney, was married to Ward's 15-year-old daughter. He was convicted in state court in June of arranging the marriage of his own 13-year-old daughter to a 48-year-old follower of his sect.
Ward, 36, also holed up with the Montana Freemen during an 81-day standoff with the FBI last year. She left the 960-acre compound in Jordan, Mont., six days before the others surrendered.
Her husband, Elwin Ward, 55, is facing federal charges in Montana in connection with his role in the standoff.
But the legal troubles that have landed Ward in prison stem from her conviction in June on charges she knowingly filed false information on Social Security survivor benefit claim forms.
According to prosecutors, Ward claimed that one of her daughters, Courtnie Joy Christensen, 11, was fathered by Paul D. Christensen, who died in 1991. Blood tests established with 99.44-percent certainty that the girl was fathered by Robert Gunn.
Ward, who acted as her own lawyer, argued the government couldn't prove she knew that Christensen was not the father of Courtnie.
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Diamond presented documents during the trial in which Ward swore "in good faith" as early as 1986 that Gunn was the father. Gunn himself had filed affidavits with the state acknowledging he was Courtnie's father and accepting responsibility for child support.
Jurors deliberated for less than three hours before returning a guilty verdict on four counts of fraud.
Julie McPherson, Ward's standby counsel, asked Greene on Friday to sentence Ward to less than the 10-to-16 months in prison set by federal sentencing guidelines. Imprisoning Ward will cost the government $2,000 a month, or almost as much as she owes in restitution, McPherson argued.
Also, prison isn't going to teach Ward any lessons, she added. "Justice will not be served by having her jailed."
Diamond asked Greene to impose a prison term above the guidelines, more than 16 months, because Ward participated in multiple acts of criminal conduct that clearly involved more than minimal planning.
"There is nothing wrong with putting someone in prison who owes money," Diamond said. "If that were the case, we would never put anyone in jail."
He also dismissed continuing assertions by Ward and her supporters that the government targeted her because of her beliefs. Ward's crime was trying to illegally obtain thousands of dollars "from a government she doesn't seem to accept," Diamond said.
"She is not being prosecuted for her religious beliefs," he said.
Greene rejected the recommendations of both sides and settled on the upper end of the sentencing guidelines. However, he gave Ward credit for the approximately five months she's already spent in jail, which means she could be released in about 10 months.
The judge also ordered her to stay away from "members and associates of the House of Chaney" during her probation. "That's going to get you into trouble," Greene warned.