A former LaPorte County chief deputy auditor was sentenced this week in U.S. District Court on embezzlement, tax and wire fraud charges.
Mary Ray, 68, of LaPorte, was sentenced to seven years in prison. She was also ordered to forfeit more than $137,000 and pay more than $801,000 in restitution. She was convicted last September of two counts of theft of government monies, two counts of making false statements on a tax return and seven counts of wire fraud.
Court documents indicate Ray embezzled more than $150,000 from LaPorte County between September 2011 and December of 2012 while serving as chief deputy auditor. She did not report the embezzled income on her federal tax returns.
Evidence from her trial also indicates Ray defrauded her father-in-law, who is 86 and a disabled veteran, of more than $600,000 he entrusted her to oversee. She used the money to gamble at casinos, according to court documents.
The FBI and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division investigated the case with help from the Indiana State Police, LaPorte County Sheriff’s Department and Indiana State Board of Accounts.
