Former Pine Ridge IHS hospital administrator indicted

Dana Ferguson
Argus Leader
Indian Health Service

A former Pine Ridge Indian Health Service hospital administrator will make an initial appearance next week on charges that she failed to disclose a $5,000 gift from a pediatrician facing 10 counts of sexual abuse.

Wehnona Stabler, who worked as the hospital's CEO from 2011 to 2013, was indicted last month on charges that she made a false statement to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

In January 2014, Stabler on a disclosure report said she hadn't accepted a gift of more than $350 from any one source. Sarah Collins, assistant U.S. attorney, in a redacted indictment said Stabler accepted $5,000 from Stanley Patrick Weber prior to making the statement.

Neither Stabler nor her attorney were available to comment Monday afternoon. Collins didn't immediately return a request for comment.

Weber, a former pediatrician at the Pine Ridge hospital, was arrested in February on charges of sexual abuse, aggravated sexual abuse and sexual abuse of a minor. He is alleged to have sexually abused Native American children he treated at the hospital between 1998 and 2011.

Weber resigned from the hospital in 2016 has entered a not guilty plea in the case. 

Follow Dana Ferguson on Twitter @bydanaferguson, call 605-370-2493 or email dferguson@argusleader.com