A Merrillville woman charged with stealing more than 1,000 iPads and other computer equipment while employed in the city of Gary’s Information Technology Department is scheduled for a Dec. 19 trial, court documents said.
Monique Bowling-Boyd, 44, of Merrillville, appeared Tuesday in U.S. District Court for arraignment on one count of theft from local government receiving federal funds, court documents said.
Bowling-Boyd, who was allegedly involved in another scheme to cash pension checks of a deceased person, is also charged with four counts of mail fraud, and six counts of aggravated identity theft and aiding and abetting, over an alleged scheme.
In 2016, a State Board of Accounts special audit uncovered fraudulent purchases of computers, tablets, printers and cellphones with city accounts payable vouchers, documents said. The equipment was later uncovered during a police traffic stop in Chicago.
The city of Gary fired Bowling-Boyd in the spring of 2015, and moved Gary’s Information Technology office in City Hall to the city’s police department.
The city’s IT Department is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation by the Indiana State Police and federal officials, documents said. A state audit found multiple instances where invoices attached to accounts payable vouchers did not match the invoice numbers and amounts listed on vouchers prepared by Bowling-Boyd, court documents said.
In January, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller sued Bowling-Boyd, seeking repayment of $1.4 million from the allegedly fraudulent purchases.
Jim Masters is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
