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Ex-Las Vegas water district worker charged in scheme to steal $6.7M in ink cartridges

A former Las Vegas Valley Water District employee has been indicted by a federal grand jury in a scheme to steal and sell more than $6.7 million worth of ink and toner cartridges from the public utility.

Jennifer McCain-Bray, a former purchasing analyst, pleaded not guilty late Thursday to six mail fraud charges and was ordered released on her own recognizance with restrictions.

U.S. Magistrate Judge George Foley Jr. set a Sept. 26 trial.

“Nevada residents pay for this type of financial fraud through inflated costs and loss of faith in government,” U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden said in a statement after McCain-Bray’s arraignment. “We are committed to the vigorous enforcement of financial fraud crimes, and encourage residents to report suspected financial crimes to your local police department or the FBI.”

Following news of McCain-Bray’s arrest by FBI agents earlier in the day, the water district issued a statement pledging its continued cooperation with the investigation.

“We also are continuing to pursue recovery of assets lost as a result of these fraudulent purchases,” said the statement sent to district employees and the media. “We sincerely believe that this recent action by the FBI is a step forward in that effort.”

District officials have said they were in the process of firing McCain-Bray when she resigned on Dec. 16, 13 days after they say she admitted to “fraudulent purchases that resulted in personal gain.”

According to the indictment, the 41-year-old woman affectionately known as “JJ” to her co-workers spent $4.5 million of public funds between 2012 and 2015 on ink and toner cartridges she then sold to a buyer in New Jersey for a cut of the money.

In all, more than $6.7 million in purchases were made by McCain-Bray and “others unknown to the grand jury” dating to 2007, the indictment alleged.

Water district spokesman Bronson Mack has said “easily” tens of thousands of cartridges were fraudulently bought and sold through the utility’s purchasing department. According to the district, McCain-Bray used the agency’s mailing system to ship boxes of the cartridges to an apparently fake New Jersey company called Symm Distributors Inc.

The district recovered one box of toner that was addressed to the company but destined for a residence in Carteret, New Jersey.

District officials and water ratepayers have expressed bewilderment at how one employee managed to make so many purchases and receive so many boxes at her cubicle before the unusual activity was finally noticed and reported by a co-worker on Dec. 2.

That lack of oversight may have cost three other employees their jobs.

According to the district, the purchasing manager, accounting supervisor and one of its finance analysts were placed on paid leave and were in the process of being fired when they left the public agency earlier this year. The purchasing manager retired in February, and the other two resigned in March.

Their names have not been released. District officials said they have found no evidence indicating the three — or any other current or former district employees — were involved in the scheme.

But a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office said Thursday the criminal investigation is continuing.

McCain-Bray was hired by the water district as an office assistant in the engineering department in October 2001. She joined the purchasing department as an assistant in 2004 and was promoted to purchasing analyst in October 2007. Her job, with an annual salary of $97,880, involved dealing with vendors and buying supplies and materials for the valley’s largest water utility.

After leaving the district, she was hired in late March to a $50,000-a-year job in the purchasing department at UNLV, but she left the university in early May. UNLV officials have declined to say whether she quit or was fired.

In court Thursday, her lawyer Louis Palazzo said she now works at a title company and runs a business selling crafts and antiques.

Contact Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Follow @RefriedBrean on Twitter. Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Follow @JGermanRJ on Twitter.

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