A former LaPorte County deputy auditor has been charged with embezzling more than $150,000 from the LaPorte County government and committing tax fraud.
The federal grand jury indictment against Mary Ray, 66, of LaPorte was returned on Wednesday which charges Ray with two counts each of theft of government monies and making false statements on a tax return.
According to the indictment, Ray embezzled more than $5,000 from LaPorte County, which had received more than $10,000 in federal benefits in both 2011 and 2012. She did this while working as an auditor, court documents state.
The court documents also allege that Ray underreported her income on her U.S. Individual Tax Returns in 2011 and in 2012 by failing to report the embezzled funds.
The FBI and IRS-Criminal Investigation, Indiana State Police, LaPorte County Sheriff’s Department and the Indiana State Board of Accounts investigated the case.
The case will be heard in the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Indiana in Hammond.
