Three members of a family with multi-state and international connections have been sentenced for violating the Indian Arts and Crafts Act (IACA) in what federal authorities are calling a “monumental” case.

Cristobal “Cris” Magno Rodrigo, 59; his wife, Glenda Tiglao Rodrigo, 46; and the couple’s son, Christian Ryan Tiglao Rodrigo, 24, ran a business that sold fake Alaska Native goods, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release on Tuesday. The family’s criminal scheme ran for at least five years, during which items produced overseas in the Philippines were imported to the United States and fraudulently marketed as authentic stone carvings and totem poles.

“The actions the Rodrigo’s family took to purposefully deceive customers and forge artwork is a cultural affront to Alaska Native artisans who pride themselves on producing these works of art, and negatively affects those who make a living practicing the craft,” U.S. Attorney S. Lane Tucker said in the release.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the family sold over $1 million in fake Native items as part of their operation in Ketchikan, Alaska. Their crimes resulted in Cris Rodrigo receiving the longest-ever sentence for violating the IACA, a federal law that has been on the books in some form for nearly 90 years.

“The sentences in this monumental case are a testament to the federal government’s commitment to prosecuting Indian Arts and Crafts Act violations, and our office will continue to work with law enforcement partners to protect Alaska Native cultural heritage and unwitting customers, and hold perpetrators accountable who carry out these crimes,” said Tucker. [PDF: Final 2 members of a Washington family sentenced in monumental Indian Arts and Crafts Act case]

Cris Rodrigo was the first of the family to be punished. Last August, he was ordered to spend two years in federal prison, make a $60,000 donation to the Tlingit and Haida Central Council’s Vocational Program, write a letter of apology to be published in the Ketchikan Daily News and serve three years’ supervised release.

The lengthy sentence was subsequently reduced to 18 months, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Despite the downward departure, the punishment remains the longest on record, according to the Indian Arts and Crafts Board (IACB), a federal agency.

“Authentic Alaska Native art and craftwork is an important tool for passing down cultural traditions, traditional knowledge, and artistic skills from one generation to the next,” said IACB Director Meridith Stanton. “Fakes and counterfeits, such as those marketed for huge sums of money by the Rodrigos, tear at the very fabric of Alaska Native culture, Native livelihoods, and Native communities.”

Glenda Rodrigo and Christian Ryan Rodrigo were sentenced on Monday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Their punishments were lighter: up to six months’ home confinement and 240 hours of community service for the mother and up to three months’ home confinement and 200 hours of community service for the son, according to the release.

“The Rodrigos sold imported products as Alaska Native made in their Ketchikan, Alaska store,” said Edward Grace, Assistant Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement. “This deceptive business practice cheated customers and undermined the economic livelihood of Alaska Native artists.”

Ketchikan is located within the territory of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes, the largest federally recognized tribe in Alaska. President Richard Chalyee Éesh Peterson spoke at the sentencing of Cristobal Rodrigo last August and shared the importance of art to the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian peoples that make up the tribal nation.

“Our art tells our history and our lineage. We did not have written history. We shared our knowledge orally and through our art,” Peterson said. “Artists and their knowledge are sacred and vital to preserving and continuing our way of life and history.”

By marketing and selling fake goods, Peterson said the Rodrigo family harmed the value that Native people put into their works. Two Tlingit artists, including a master carver, also spoke at the hearing to underscore the cultural meaning and heritage that goes into their designs.

“It’s much more than just potential loss of livelihood for our artisans or lowering market prices and standards. Protecting our rights as Indigenous people to continue to produce traditional art in the way of our ancestors is a way to share knowledge about ourselves with others,” Peterson said. “To allow misappropriation of our culture and misrepresentation of our goods and products dilutes our identity as Indigenous people and prevents future generations from knowing and connecting with who they are.”

As part of their punishments, the Rodrigros, who authorities said are based in Washington state, must pay more than $54,000 in restitution. The plea agreement states that the money will go to customers who purchased fraudulent items at businesses on Main Street in Ketchikan that went by the names Alaska Stone Arts and Rail Creek.

The operation received glowing reviews on Trip Advisor, a publicly accessible site often used by tourists. Some reviews mentioned “Jr” — a name that appears in the plea agreement as a supposed Native artist whose works were sold at the Ketchikan store. Also mentioned on the site are “Travis,” “James” and “Simeon” — initials possibly matching names that also appear in the document. [PDF: U.S. v. Rodrigo]

The Indian Arts and Crafts Act makes it a crime to market, sell or promote an item as “Indian” unless it was created by a citizen of a state or federally recognized tribe or by an artisan certified by a tribe. The law was written to prevent the historical and ongoing misrepresentation of Native arts by non-Native entities.

The law has been amended in recent decades to increase enforcement and strengthen punishments for offenders. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, who is the first Native person to serve in a presidential cabinet, has made compliance with IACA one of her priorities since joining the administration of President Joe Biden. The IACB is housed within the Department of the Interior, the federal agency with the most trust and treaty responsibilities in Indian Country.

Congress is also taking a greater interest in addressing fake Native art. An appropriations bill making its way through the U.S. House of Representatives calls for $3.5 million to be used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to “work with the Indian Arts and Crafts Board to combat international trafficking of counterfeit arts and crafts and to conduct criminal investigations of alleged violations of the Indian Arts and Crafts Act.”

The House Committee on Appropriations approved the spending on Tuesday as part of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2025. The bill can now be considered by the full House for further action.