Former Director of Domestic Violence Crisis Center Receiving DOJ Funds Arrested and Pleaded Guilty to Making False Statement

On May 10, 2021, the former Director of the Missouri Valley Crisis Center (MVCC), a domestic violence shelter in Chamberlain, South Dakota, was arrested and pleaded guilty following an Information charging her with one count of making a materially false statement.  Tami Haug-Davis was charged and pleaded guilty in the District of South Dakota.  According to the factual statement in support of the guilty plea, from in or about September 2016 through in or about February 2019, Haug-Davis served as the Director of the MVCC, which was in large part funded by state and federal grants, including grants from the Department of Justice Office of Victims of Crime.  In the fall of 2018, the South Dakota Department of Public Safety Victim Services Program (DPS) conducted a review of the MVCC regarding their receipt of federal and state grants, and subsequently issued the MVCC a corrective action plan requesting that the MVCC provide supporting documentation to DPS.  Following the receipt of the MVCC’s response to the DPS request, a complaint was issued by the State of South Dakota’s Division of Criminal Investigation.  On August 30, 2019, and July 14, 2020, agents from the Department of Justice OIG and Department of Health and Human Services OIG interviewed Haug-Davis, and she knowingly and intentionally made false statements regarding the creation, submission, and veracity of her response to the fall 2018 corrective action plan.  The investigation is being conducted by the OIG’s Denver Field Office, the Department of Health and Human Services OIG, and the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation.