“Public service is a public trust,” said U.S. Attorney
Trutanich. “Today’s sentencing demonstrates this office’s commitment to
investigate and prosecute individuals who violate that trust by misusing their
authority to benefit themselves at the expense of the community.”
“Ms. McCain-Bray deceived the Las Vegas Valley Water
District by stealing over $6.7 million through her calculated scheme that
falsely represented purchases. She then
used the ill-gotten gains to fund a lavish lifestyle,” said SAC Rouse. “The FBI
will continue working with our partners to investigate fraud and hold
individuals in a position of trust accountable when failing to comply with the
law.”
“Ms. McCain-Bray stole from our community, using Nevada
taxpayer money to enrich her own life and then lied to the IRS,” said SAC
Sullivan. “IRS-Criminal Investigation will continue to hold government
employees to the highest standard.”
McCain-Bray, 43, of Las Vegas, previously pleaded guilty to
one count of mail fraud and one count of subscribing to a false tax return. In
addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Kent J. Dawson ordered her to
pay $6,715,531 as part of a criminal forfeiture money judgment.
McCain-Bray worked as a purchasing analyst for the LVVWD and
she was responsible for transmitting orders and payments to vendors when
particular products were requested from LVVWD departments and employees. She
admitted that between January 1, 2007 to about December 7, 2015, she devised a
scheme to defraud the LVVWD by falsely representing that purchases of ink and
toner cartridges were for the LVVWD, when she knew that the products were
actually purchased for a New Jersey company which received and then resold the
cartridges for its own profit. McCain-Bray instructed the vendor to ship the
ink and toner cartridges from California and other locations to her at her
LVVWD office in Las Vegas. She then relabeled the packages and shipped them to
the New Jersey company. In exchange, the New Jersey company transferred money
to McCain-Bray’s personal PayPal account. Financial records indicate that
McCain-Bray used the fraud proceeds for personal expenses and purchases,
including extensive home remodeling and improvements, trips, gifts to family
members and friends, and other lifestyle expenses. Between 2007 and 2015,
McCain-Bray fraudulently purchased approximately $6.7 million in ink and toner
cartridges with LVVWD funds.
McCain-Bray also failed to report her profits from the
scheme on her personal tax returns for tax years 2011 to 2015. For those years,
she failed to report a total of $2,339,156 in taxable income to the IRS.
The case was investigated by the FBI and the IRS-Criminal
Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Burns prosecuted the case.
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