Former Pigeon Township trustee and co-conspirator sentenced for stealing thousands of dollars from local taxpayers in kickback scheme

Date: Dec. 11, 2024

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EVANSVILLE - Mariama Wilson and Terrance Hardiman both of Evansville, have each been sentenced for their roles in a years' long kickback scheme resulting in a $38,000 loss to taxpayers.

Mariama Wilson, the former Pigeon Township Trustee, has been sentenced to three years of probation after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Terrance Hardiman was previously sentenced to six months in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to money laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Wilson and Hardiman were also ordered to pay $38,000 in restitution, to be split among co-defendants.

A third defendant, William Payne is scheduled to enter a plea and be sentenced in January 2025.

The Pigeon Township Trustee's Office, located in Vanderburgh County, Indiana, is responsible for providing emergency financial assistance to residents in need, including help with rent, utilities, and prescriptions. According to court documents, in February 2020, then-Trustee Wilson and Payne, Wilson's Director of Community Relations, orchestrated a kickback scheme with Hardiman and his company, Hardiman Construction LLC. The scheme involved inflating invoices for remodeling a homeless shelter and developing a food pantry.

Wilson and Payne approved inflated invoices submitted by Hardiman, who then paid them kickbacks totaling approximately $38,000. Hardiman would deposit checks from the Trustee's Office, withdraw the cash, and hand-deliver it to Wilson or Payne in envelopes. The fraudulent invoices were inflated by $1,000 to $2,000 per project, with Wilson and Payne pocketing the excess funds.

In total, between Feb. 11, 2020, and May 16, 2022, the Trustee's Office paid Hardiman approximately $215,371 for the homeless shelter and food pantry projects. As a result of the kickback scheme, Wilson and Payne received approximately $38,000 in total, or approximately $19,000 each.

Wilson resigned as Trustee in June 2023, shortly after being charged in this case.

"Large or small, kickback schemes like the one carried out by Ms. Wilson and the other defendants damage public's confidence in government," said Zachary A. Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. "Township officials owe their constituents the same duty of honesty and integrity they have the right to expect from public servants at every level. This prosecution should send a message to all bad actors who seek to line their pockets at the expense of taxpayers. Thanks to our partners at the Evansville Police Department, Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Office, Indiana State Board of Accounts, IRS-CI, FBI, and our federal prosecutor, these criminals have been held accountable for their actions."

"We should all expect our public officials to act with integrity," said Justin Campbell, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Field Office of Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI). "When these officials violate the trust we have placed in them, there should be consequences. IRS-Criminal Investigation will continue to support our law enforcement partners in ensuring that public funds are spent in the taxpayers' best interests."

"There are consequences when public officials illegally use public funds for their own personal benefit. In this case, the defendants prioritized their greed over the interests of the citizens they were supposed to serve," said FBI Indianapolis Special Agent in Charge Herbert J. Stapleton. "The FBI and our law enforcement partners will always work together to investigate allegations such as this and ensure perpetrators are held accountable."

"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 Vanderburgh County Sheriff Noah Robinson. "The 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."

The IRS-CI, FBI, Indiana State Board of Accounts, Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Office and the Evansville Police Department investigated this case. The sentences were imposed by U.S. District Judge Matthew P. Brookman.

U.S. Attorney Myers thanked Assistant United States Attorney Matthew B. Miller, who prosecuted this case.

IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.