FBI studies Gulf cleanup job offers on Yakima Reservation

YAKIMA, Wash. — The Federal Bureau of Investigation is now looking into a man's promise to offer tribal members high-paying jobs cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Late Friday, Yakama Nation officials alerted the U.S. Attorney's Office in Spokane, which referred calls to the FBI.

"We are aware of it; that's all I'm going to be able to say," FBI agent Frank Harrill in Spokane said Monday. "The Yakama Nation has put out an alert and we are examining it."

The man behind promising the jobs, Christino Rosado, last Friday said he planned to bus tribal members to the Gulf sometime this week.

Phone calls to Rosado were not returned Monday.

Despite the rancor over whether the man making the promises is legitimate, some tribal members are still holding out hopes of a Gulf job.

Lewis Underwood said on Monday he was told that buses bound for Gulf jobs would be leaving the reservation this morning.

His friend, Myron Old Elk, said he's among many tribal members still hoping a job will come through.

"I'm just waiting like everybody else," he said. "Hopefully everything works out -- everyone is just hanging by a string right now."

Last week, a group of people claiming to be business owners visited the Yakama reservation and promised tribal members $40 an hour to help clean up the Gulf spill.

A few people working from the back of a van pulled into the Toppenish Armory on the Yakama reservation and began handing out fliers about the job offers and nearly blank sheets of paper for interested tribal members to list their names, phone numbers, Social Security and tribal enrollment numbers.

Excited about the high pay, hundreds of tribal members jumped at the opportunity. Several even quit their jobs at the tribe's casino, sawmill and government offices.

After learning about the matter, skeptical tribal leaders immediately contacted the state Attorney General's Office and Better Business Bureau of Eastern Washington, North Idaho and Montana.

In a joint effort, tribal leaders, the Attorney General's Office and the Better Business Bureau released an alert, warning people of a possible scam.

* Phil Ferolito can be reached at 509-577-7749 or pferolito@yakimaherald.com.