Soboba Tribal Chairman Robert Salgado has never been one to back down from a fight.

Under his leadership, the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians in Riverside County sued the federal government and a local water district, reaching settlements with water agencies and achieving federal legislation to protect the tribe's water rights.

Last year, Salgado faced off with the Riverside County Sheriff's Department and county leaders in a dispute over law enforcement's access to the reservation and safety concerns at the tribe's casino.

After decades at the helm of the 900-member tribe outside San Jacinto, the strong-willed former football star is facing another fight. A 36-count federal indictment alleges that he accepted more than $250,000 in bribes from tribal vendors. The indictment also charges that he concealed income from the IRS. He pleaded not guilty earlier this month. A trial date is scheduled for May 4.

Salgado faces federal prison time if he is found guilty of 29 counts of accepting checks and cash to pay his personal debts in exchange for contracts for services and capital improvements at the casino and reservation grounds outside of San Jacinto.

Known as Bobby to friends and associates, Salgado, 67, has been revered in his tribe, in San Jacinto and beyond the Inland region for his commitment to tribal rights and to charitable giving.

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2008 / The Press-Enterprise

Robert Salgado has pleaded not guilty to charges of accepting more than $250,000 in bribes from tribal vendors and concealing personal income from the IRS.

The tribe has been an avid supporter of the United Way. Salgado and the tribe donated more than $20,000 in the past five years to the National Football Foundation chapter in Riverside and up to $100,000 in scholarships to student athletes, said chapter president Wally Clark.

At the same time, he has attracted controversy for his choice of words during public feuds. In a deadlock with the Riverside County Sheriff's Department after three tribal members were killed by deputies in shootouts, Salgado compared a sheriff's captain to Gen. George Custer.

Months later, when the state parole office planned to remove parolees from the reservation, Salgado said, "The sheriff thinks he can come on the reservation and kill Indians because he has a badge."

Barrel-chested and large in stature, Salgado speaks bluntly in a gruff voice. He has struggled in recent years with diabetes, walking with a cane and occasionally taking leaves of absence from his leadership position.

Many of Salgado's supporters still stand solidly behind him following the indictment. However, he was recently stripped of his power to lead the tribe and was placed on leave while the charges are pending.

Although he declined to comment on the charges directly, Salgado said recently that he remains confident through God's will that he will remain in power as leader of the tribe.

"I think it's political," he said. "I'll always be a leader. The saying is, these are allegations until you're proven guilty. That's the law as the white man has put it, right?"

Bribes alleged

FBI agents and the U.S. attorney's office say four vendors offered bribes to Salgado to get contracts at the casino and on the reservation. Only one of the vendors was identified in court documents, Abbas Shilleh, 46, of Diamond Bar, who was contracted by the casino for valet parking and charged with bribes dating to 2006.

Federal authorities say the charges do not call the tribe as a whole or the business of the casino into question.

The National Indian Gaming Commission, which regulates tribal gaming, inspected Soboba last year and found the business in compliance.

In responding to the indictment, commission spokesman Shawn Pensoneau said if any criminal activity is found, inspectors are required to contact law enforcement.

"It is the mission of the NIGC to shield Indian gaming from organized crime and other corrupting influences," Pensoneau said. "Accordingly, the NIGC is very concerned when charges related to corruption in Indian gaming arise."

Inspectors visited the casino following the dispute between the tribe and the Sheriff's Department after the deaths of the three tribal members during the shootouts in May.

In the weeks after the shootings, Salgado traded barbs with Riverside County Sheriff Stanley Sniff after Salgado instituted a policy to block deputies from entering the reservation until they identified themselves to tribal security.

At the time, Sniff requested that the casino's gaming license be suspended until the practice stopped. Sniff threatened to arrest Salgado and other tribal members if they impeded deputies on duty. Riverside County Supervisors Jeff Stone and John Tavaglione asked Salgado to step down as chairman.

The gaming commission at the time chose to take no action. Since then, both the tribe and the Sheriff's Department have reported repairing their relationship. The tribe has agreed to allow marked patrol cars unrestricted access to the reservation land.

But Salgado said the recent federal charges have him wondering about his past differences with Riverside County officials.

Federal authorities say the investigation began last year under a review of tax returns where Salgado was accused of underreporting his income. The Sheriff's Department has said it was not part of the investigation.

"It's funny how the Sheriff's Department and Sniff asked to close the casino and Stone asked me to step down. If you put two and two together, they couldn't do that there, what other ways are there to do it here?" Salgado said. "Who knows, maybe it's coincidence, but interesting if you read what he said."

Rise to the top

Anyone who has met Salgado knows his commanding presence, colorful speech and his hearty laugh. Salgado often holds court when an audience of one or several dozen is present.

"At the table or in a forum, he speaks with a dedication and understanding of the issues," said Agua Caliente Tribal Chairman Richard Milanovich. "And that's why he's always been admired and so forthright, to tackle such difficult issues and argue to achieve at times what was in the best interest of his people."

Salgado was born at the Soboba Indian Hospital on the reservation on Sept. 25, 1942. He was raised on the reservation, which was designated in 1883 on 2,173 acres. His father served on the tribal council.

Salgado said he grew up in a two-room house with a leaky roof and without power. His family coped with the extreme poverty common on Indian reservations in the 1940s and '50s, he said. The tribe survived off deer and rabbit meat mixed with acorns and cactus.

"It wasn't easy, and we were probably poor and didn't know it," Salgado said.

Salgado was a star football kicker at San Jacinto High School and Mt. San Jacinto College. He was asked to try out for the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers.

His only time away from the reservation was when he attended barber college for two years before being elected tribal chairman in 1976.

In the decades to come, Salgado served as chairman off and on while establishing the Soboba Casino in 1995 and helping the tribe form relationships with Inland and Washington, D.C., legislators.

Rep. Joe Baca, D-Rialto, said he met Salgado while playing softball at the Soboba Men's Club in the 1970s. Since then, Salgado has testified in front of Congress and worked with Baca and Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Palm Springs, to pass the legislation protecting the tribe's water rights.

The tribe sued the federal government and Metropolitan Water District in past decades, resulting in a water settlement and legislation that secured 9,000 acre-feet of water per year for the tribe from the local water districts during the first 50 years of the settlement. The Soboba Settlement Act was signed into law last year.

Salgado has led the tribe's rise from its impoverished roots. The tribe markets its casino and resort as a national destination featuring the Soboba Classic Golf Tournament.

The tribe is seeking to expand the casino beyond its 2,000 slot machines -- a proposal that has been opposed by some area residents, the San Jacinto City Council and the Riverside County Board of Supervisors.

Authority revoked

Despite his long-standing support from tribal members, the federal indictment prompted the Tribal Council on Nov. 3 to revoke Salgado's authority to conduct any tribal business.

San Jacinto officials, the Sheriff's Department and Supervisor Jeff Stone declined to comment for this article.

"The tribe is realizing it's an issue enough for him to be put out of the tribe's leadership," said Verne Lauritzen, Stone's chief of staff. "The tribe needs to be in a position in such a fashion to be protected enough from what he's alleged to be doing and what comes to fruition."

Salgado said the tribe should be able to police itself and conduct its own business privately.

"We've had our ups and downs and tried to keep within the tribe as a tradition. We don't go outside the tribe and air our dirty laundry," Salgado said.

After an interview with a reporter, Salgado called back minutes later to summarize his position with a poem he wrote on tribal sovereignty.

"When we burn our white sage, that will serve as a reminder of sacredness, sovereignty and the right to self-determination. It is once asked what sovereignty means. Let us tell them it is another word for freedom."

"We're an established tribe and everyone knows who we are since 1883," Salgado said. "We're not going nowhere."

Robert J. Salgado Sr.

1976: Became Soboba tribal chairman

1984: Soboba bingo and card hall opens near San Jacinto

1991: Soboba tribe reaches a $12 million settlement in a 43-year-old dispute with the federal government over protecting the tribe's water supply

Jan. 13, 1995: Soboba Casino opens

1996: Salgado defeated in tribal election

1998: Salgado elected to eighth term

2000: The Soboba tribe files a federal suit against the Metropolitan Water District claiming construction of a tunnel in the hills between Cabazon and San Jacinto drained water from the reservation

2005: Soboba signs contract for law enforcement with the Riverside County Sheriff's Department

2006: Soboba cancels contract with the Riverside County Sheriff's Department

2006: Soboba reaches a tentative settlement with water agencies to resolve claims but it will require congressional legislation to finalize

2007: Salgado resigns abruptly as chairman without explanation and then quickly returns to power

February 2008: A federal grand jury convenes to look at Salgado's tax records

May 8, 2008: Eli Morillo, son of the Soboba vice-chairwoman, is killed during a shootout with sheriff's deputies on the reservation

May, 12, 2008: Two tribal members are killed during a gunbattle with sheriff's deputies on the reservation

July 7, 2008: Salgado and Sheriff Stanley Sniff sign a memorandum of understanding for the Sheriff's Department to cooperate with the tribe

July 30, 2008: Sniff calls for the Soboba casino's gaming license to be suspended and any tribal members to be arrested if they impede deputies after Salgado instituted a policy to stop deputies before entering the reservation. Two county supervisors also call for Salgado to resign

July 31, 2008: President George W. Bush signs the Soboba Settlement Act into law ending a 70-year dispute guaranteeing water rights to the tribe

May 2009: The Soboba tribe and the Sheriff's Department report differences have been solved. Uniformed deputies are allowed unrestricted access to the reservation

Oct. 23, 2009: Salgado is charged in a 36-count indictment accusing him of filing false tax returns and accepting bribes in exchange for giving vendors contracts

Nov. 2, 2009: Salgado pleads not guilty to all charges

Nov. 3, 2009: The tribe places Salgado on leave until the charges are resolved