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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller has filed a lawsuit in Lake County against a former city of Gary employee who he says used her former position in the information technology department to defraud the city of nearly $1.4 million.
The civil suit seeks to recover public funds against Monique S. Bowling-Boyd, of Merrillville, seeking $1,397,559.19 plus treble damages. Zoeller is also asking a judge to freeze her assets indefinitely through the duration of the case.
The State Board of Accounts initiated a special audit after the Indiana State Police reported that Apple laptops and other computer equipment whose serial numbers indicated they were owned by the city of Gary had been discovered in Illinois by authorities there, prompting suspicion of possible fraud.
The audit, which covered Jan 1. 2012 until May 12, 2015, found Bowling-Boyd would submit vouchers for payment of computer equipment the city in turn approved for payment, but some invoices were duplicates and some did not match up to actual invoices or amounts. She also purchased nearly $1 million in Apple devices using six city accounts, according to the attorney general’s office.
Bowling-Boyd has not been criminally charged in the matter.
According to the city government’s response to the State Board of Accounts that was filed with the audit report, the city has since made corrective changes to its internal accounting controls and purchasing processes to prevent such a fraud in the future.
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