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Two Men Charged in Wire Fraud and Money Laundering Scheme
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, and Department of the Interior (DOI) Office of Inspector General announced today that James I. Matison, 57, of Boulder, CO, and Jeffrey Ham, 46, of El Prado, NM, made initial appearances in federal court on a criminal complaint charging them with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.
According to court documents, from February 2015 through April 2019, Matison and Ham conspired to inflate hours billed to Matison’s employer, WildEarth Guardians, by using the company Ham owned, Timberline Environmental, LLC. All told, Matison and Ham diverted more than $250,000 from WildEarth Guardians.
“The Department of the Interior (DOI) Office of Inspector General is committed to working with our law enforcement partners in protecting the integrity of taxpayer funds and aggressively investigating allegations of theft within DOI and other federal programs,” said Jamie DePaepe, Special Agent in Charge, Department of the Interior Office of Inspector General’s Western Region.
A complaint is only an allegation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted, Matison and Ham both face 20 years in prison.
Environmental Protection Agency Office of Inspector General investigated this case with assistance from Department of the Interior Office of Inspector General. Assistant United States Attorney Jeremy Peña is prosecuting the case.
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Fairbanks U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Employee Charged with Fraud, Embezzlement for Falsifying Bank Records and Stealing Over $100,000
FAIRBANKS – A federal grand jury in Alaska returned an indictment charging a Fairbanks U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employee with wire fraud and embezzlement of public funds for perpetrating a years-long scheme to steal money from her employer.
According to court documents, Kimberly C. Robinson was employed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service since 2003, and in 2020 was promoted to the role of Budget Analyst in charge of reconciling the budgets for each USFWS regional office. To perform her duties the federal government issued Robinson multiple credit cards to pay for official government expenses and travel.
As set out in court filings, from at least 2018 through June 2021, Robinson engaged in a scheme to defraud the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by using her government issued credit cards for unauthorized personal purchases and expenses. She then deleted and altered the unauthorized transactions on the credit card statements submitted to her supervisor for reconciliation to conceal the scheme and to cause USFWS to disburse public funds to pay the credit card balances. According to statements at court proceedings, Robinson embezzled over $100,000 through this scheme.
On February 28, 2023, Robinson was arraigned before the U.S. Magistrate Judge Scott A. Oravec in Fairbanks federal court. If convicted, she faces a maximum penalty of up to 20-years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The United States Department of the Interior, Office of Inspector General is investigating this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Tansey for the District of Alaska is prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.