The U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Indiana announced that a Pigeon Township trustee and a pair of co-conspirators have been charged with wire fraud and committing wire fraud in an effort to steal thousands from local taxpayers in a kickback scheme.
According to an April 26 press release Mariama Wilson, 50, William Payne, 49, and Terrence Hardiman, 32, of Evansville, were indicted by a federal grand jury on five counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Hardiman was charged with a single count of money laundering, as well. All three were arrested and appeared in court on April 26.
“I’m proud that we have honest individuals willing to report corruption when they see it, knowing that silence in the face of misconduct is not an option,” said the Vanderburgh County Sheriff Noah Robinson. “The alleged crimes committed by these officials are a slap in the face to the community in which we live. This corrupt behavior runs counter to the oath they took, and certainly not what was promised to this community.”
In Indiana, a township is a small government organization inside of a county that makes use of public monies to offer citizens certain services, as claimed in the indictment. A Township Trustee is an elected representative responsible for running a township. One of Vanderburgh County's eight townships is called Pigeon Township.
The Trustee's Office's goal is to help residents of Pigeon Township who require immediate financial assistance with paying for necessities including rent, utilities and medicines. Wilson serves as the elected trustee for Pigeon Township, and Payne is the director of community relations and shelter coordinator in the trustee's office. In exchange for Hardiman agreeing to provide Wilson and Payne a percentage of the money he received from the Trustee's Office, Wilson and Payne agreed to employ Hardiman and his company, Hardiman Construction LLC, to refurbish a homeless shelter and create a food pantry in February 2020.
According to the indictment, Wilson and Payne allegedly forced the Trustee's Office to pay false invoices that Hardiman filed for the building projects before keeping the inflated sums for themselves. Together, Wilson, Payne and Hardiman went to the food bank and homeless shelter, where they made note of the precise tasks that needed to be finished. Wilson, Payne and Hardiman talked about how much the projects ought to cost and how much Hardiman ought to inflate those costs to pay Wilson and Payne's kickbacks. They generally agreed to add $1,000 to $2,000 to the total amount charged on each invoice.
Hardiman allegedly prepared invoices with fraudulent charges and then submitted them for payment. They allegedly approved the charges and had the Trustee’s Office issue Hardiman Construction checks. Hardiman allegedly then deposited the checks and withdrew most of it in cash, then placed it in an envelope to give to Wilson or Payne to be divided between them.
Allegedly, between February 11, 2020, and May 16, 2022, the Trustee’s Office paid Hardiman about $215,371 for the homeless shelter and food pantry projects. The scheme led to Wilson and Payne receiving about $19,000 each.
They all face up to 20 years in federal prison and three years of supervised release, and a fine, if convicted.
