BOISE, Idaho (AP) – The former chairman of an American Indian tribe in Idaho and Nevada has been indicted on felony charges of stealing federal money.

Kyle Prior is accused of using a Wells Fargo bank debit card issued to the federally funded Upper Snake River Tribes Foundation to make personal purchases when he was the foundation's executive director from September 2008 to July 2009. He is the former chairman of the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes in southern Idaho and northern Nevada.

Prior illegally bought property worth more than $5,000, according to documents filed in federal court. If he is convicted, he faces a maximum of 10 years in a federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

“Those who are entrusted with federal, state or tribal money have a solemn obligation to act forthrightly with that money,” U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson said Thursday. “Those who violate that trust for their own personal gain will be investigated and prosecuted.”

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Inspector General investigated the complaint that led to Prior's indictment.

Prior, who was a councilman and an interim chairman with the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes from 2002 to 2007, didn't immediately return a call.

Prior is on probation after serving time in jail following a 2009 conviction for felony drunken driving. Court records show it was at least his third offense since 1999.

During his tenure on the Shoshone Paiute Tribes' council, Prior was a regular at the Idaho Legislature and a prominent participant in the negotiations that in 2009 led to the creation of 500,000 acres of federally protected wilderness in Idaho's rugged Owyhee County, where much of his tribes' aboriginal land is located.

The Upper Snake River Tribes Foundation's mission is the protection, enhancement, and restoration of natural and cultural resources for tribes including the Burns Paiute Tribe in Oregon; the Fort McDermott Paiute and Shoshone Tribe in Nevada; the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes in Fort Hall, Idaho; and the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes on the Duck Valley Indian Reservation that straddles the Idaho-Nevada border.

The foundation also coordinates a unified response to common resource issues within the Snake River Basin and seeks to protect and nurture the tribal languages, cultures and traditions, according to its website.

Heather Ray, a foundation spokeswoman in Boise, didn't immediately return a call.