The man charged with allegedly stealing millions of dollars from the Whitecap First Nation has turned himself in voluntarily.

Hugo Gallegos made his first court appearance today in Saskatoon on the charges of theft over $5,000 and fraud over $5,000.

Following the appearance, he was handcuffed and led away for fingerprinting.

His lawyer, Morris Bodnar, was not impressed with the handcuffs, saying his client had turned himself in voluntarily and turned in his passports as part of his release conditions.

Bodnar confirmed Gallegos flew back from El Salvador to Saskatoon by way of Toronto:

“I guess it’s stressful when you go into the airport because you don’t know if they’ll arrest you.  But they didn’t because I talked to the crown – ‘don’t arrest him, let him come in, he’s coming in voluntarily.'”

A Canada-wide warrant for Gallegos’ arrest had been issued in September following an RCMP investigation into complaints of missing funds at Whitecap.