Man convicted for failing to surrender in tribal mail case | The Sacramento Bee

A man convicted in 2011 of diverting mail addressed to the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians was found guilty Tuesday of failing to surrender to serve his sentence in the case.

The guilty verdict followed a two-day jury trial in federal court in Sacramento, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office news release.

Cesar Caballero, 46, of Diamond Springs has engaged in a long-running dispute over the tribe’s use of the name, claiming a tribe with which he is affiliated is the real Shingle Springs Band of Miwoks. In August 2010, he submitted three change-of-address orders at the Shingle Springs post office, routing mail addressed to the Shingle Springs Rancheria to Caballero’s address.

On Aug. 30, 2011, Caballero was convicted of obstruction of mail for submitting official federal mail forwarding change of address order forms to the U.S. Postal Service for the purpose of diverting mail addressed to the Shingle Spring Band of Miwok Indians to himself.

After he was sentenced, Caballero appealed, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed his conviction on two of the three counts against him. He was resentenced on June 29, 2015, to a 60-day term of incarceration. He was ordered to surrender to begin his sentence by Sept. 8, 2015. But authorities say he failed to surrender by Sept. 8 or afterward. He subsequently was arrested by the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office on Feb. 28.

Caballero is to be sentenced May 17 by U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez.