Washington Family Pleads Guilty to Indian and Arts and Crafts Act Violations

The Sioux Indian Museum, administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Indian Arts and Crafts Board, announces the opening of a new exhibit Art as a Reconciling Force: Paintings by renowned Omaha/Sicangu Lakota Artist Bobby Penn.  The exhibit will run from February 27 through June 28, 2026.

MADISON, WIS. – Chadwick M. Elgersma, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Jose Farinango Muenala, 47, Casselberry, Florida, pleaded guilty on January 28, 2026, to misrepresenting Indian produced goods. Following the guilty plea, Farinango Muenala was sentenced by U.S. District Judge William M. Conley to 3 years of probation and a $25,000 fine.

ALBUQUERQUE – After posing for years as a source of rare Native American art, a California man was sentenced to 37 months in prison and ordered to pay $134,443.60 in restitution for running a counterfeit jewelry operation that exploited the reputation of famed Hopi artist Charles Loloma and siphoned roughly five hundred thousand dollars from collectors nationwide.