Omaha Men Sentenced to Years in Federal Prison for Interstate Transportation of Stolen Money

ABERDEEN - United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced today that U.S. District Judge Charles B. Kornmann has sentenced two men from Omaha, Nebraska, convicted of Interstate Transportation of Stolen Money. The sentencings took place on September 15, 2025.

Roberto Carlos Gonzalez Miranda, age 24, was sentenced to five years and ten months in federal prison. Co-defendant Roberto Orellana, age 46, was sentenced to four years and two months in federal prison. Both Orellana and Miranda were ordered to pay $352,000 in restitution to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Miranda was ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund; Orellana, $200.

Miranda and Orellana were indicted by a federal grand jury in July 2024. They both pleaded guilty on June 3, 2025.

Shortly after 6:00 a.m. on Sunday, February 25, 2024, personnel at the Grand River Casino in rural Mobridge, South Dakota, received a call from someone claiming to be a U.S. Government official. The caller claimed the casino owed $700,000 in audit fees and that steep fines would be levied if the casino did not immediately make a down payment on the debt. Acting at the direction of the caller, casino personnel took cash from the casino vault and transported it to Mitchell, South Dakota, to make a payment.

Miranda and Orellana occasionally worked as money mules for a transnational criminal organization during the winter of 2023-2024. On February 25, 2024, the organization dispatched them to Mitchell to collect the casino funds. The caller who arranged the fraud was not identified, and the casino funds have not been recovered.

This case was investigated by the FBI, the South Dakota DCI, the Mitchell Police Department, and the Corson County Sheriff's Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Carl Thunem prosecuted the case.

Miranda and Orellana were immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.