Former employee, co-conspirator sentenced for embezzling over $270,000 from WFYI
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — An Indianapolis woman will spend over a year on house arrest and must pay back hundreds of thousands of dollars for embezzling from WFYI Public Media in 2023.
Alicia Wilson, 37, was sentenced to three years of probation, with the first 15 months on home detention, and must pay $270,876 in restitution after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office Southern District of Indiana said Tuesday.
In April, Mindi Madison, 53, of Indianapolis, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and was sentenced to three years of probation and also ordered to pay $270,876 in restitution.
Court docs say Wilson and Madison conspired together to embezzle funds from WFYI Public Media into their checking accounts.
Madison was working as an accounting specialist at WFYI in January 2018 while the company was owned and operated by Metropolitan Indianapolis Public Media Inc., and provided television and radio programming throughout central Indiana.
Investigators say that Wilson was neither an employee nor a vendor of WFYI.
According to court documents, Madison had access to WFYI’s accounting software and was trusted to present legitimate expenses, claims, invoices, and supporting documentation along with unsigned WFYI checks to employees at the company who had signature authority for their approval and signature.
Instead of presenting legitimate claims from the business expenses for signature and payment, Madison presented at least 156 fake claims and invoices for payment. To hide the theft, Madison and Wilson agreed that Madison would falsify invoices using versions of Wilson’s name and businesses connected to her.
Madison tendered WFYI checks to Wilson, and they agreed that Wilson would deposit the checks in her bank accounts. Wilson withdrew Madison’s portion in cash and they split the money.
Madison and Wilson used the money for their expenses including but not limited to rent, restaurants, groceries, fuel, and utilities.
“Complex economic crimes such as these devastate the finances and security of businesses and individuals. The defendants’ theft deprived WFYI of hundreds of thousands of dollars intended for public service and educating the community,” said Zachary A. Myers, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, in a release. “Our office will continue to work with the FBI to identify and prosecute individuals who scheme and steal to satisfy their own greed.”