Former tribal officials get prison terms for cigarette scam

Three former members of the Stillaguamish Tribal Council will go to federal prison for failing to pay state taxes on millions of contraband cigarettes. A federal judge ordered them to pay nearly $26 million in restitution.

They also agreed to forfeit nearly $1 million in cash.

Edward Leverne Goodridge Sr., 60, and his son, Edward Goodridge, 33, both of Arlington. and Sara Lee Schroedl, 40, now of Prescott, Ariz., pleaded guilty late last year to conspiracy to traffic in contraband cigarettes and engaging in monetary transactions using the proceeds of their crimes.

The Goodridges each were sentenced today to 14 months in prison by U.S. District Judge James Robart. Schroedl received an eight-month sentence.

The three were on the tribal council when they set up a corporation to run the Blue Stilly Smoke Shop in Arlington. According to court documents. they sold nearly 2 million cartons of contraband cigarettes between March 2003 and May 2007, generating nearly $55 million in revenue — and failing to pay more than $25 million in state taxes in the same time period.

Federal prosecutors say the four made nearly $15 million in profits.

A search in 2007 of homes and businesses run by the Goodridges turned up nearly 3.5 million contraband cigarettes and $46,000 in cash.

A fourth tribal member, Linda Loy Goodridge, the wife of the senior Goodridge, was sentenced to four months of home confinement and two years of supervised release.

Robart said all are responsible for paying the restitution.

The judge said that simply requiring the defendants to pay restitution was not enough. He said he received one letter from a tribal member pointing out that the defendants were driving expensive cars while other members of their tribe were sleeping in theirs.

The current tribal council president told the court that the revenue from the cigarette taxes could have been used to help the tribe.

"It could not have been lost on these defendants that they were reaping benefits that were disproportionate," the judge said, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle.

Earlier this month in federal court, a former Puyallup Tribal Council member and her husband were sentenced to five years' probation and ordered to pay more than $9 million in restitution for conspiring to traffic in contraband cigarettes.

Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com