What does it look like when an unethical, municipal employee is left unsupervised without a system of checks and balances in place? The Las Vegas Valley Water District has just found out to the tune of $4.5 million. Here we go with bad ethics at work.
In an article by Henry Brean for the Las Vegas Review-Journal (April 29, 2016) entitled: “Las Vegas Water District says employee spent $4.5 million on printer cartridges she then sold,” we learn of a fairly elaborate scheme purchasing analyst Jennifer McCain-Bray:
“(She) spent $4.5 million of public money on ink jet cartridges she then sold to a buyer in New Jersey for a cut of the money, according to new details released Friday by the water agency.
District officials 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.’”
The monitoring of the purchases made by the analyst was so flimsy, the water district has no idea how many toner cartridges were bought and sold, but a spokesperson has stated, “We’re easily talking about tens of thousands.” To add insult to injury, the purchasing analyst used the water district’s outgoing mail to mail the packages of cartridges to a “ghost distribution company” named Symms Distributors. The address is the storefront to a Chinese restaurant!
Whoever resold the goods was apparently very expert at covering their tracks. No one in the department knows how the woman was able to ship such an incredible number of packages without anyone knowing. She was finally caught because a new employee noticed the package volume.
Caught in their own ignorance
The employee, who had been on the job for 14 years, was so unethical, she set up a shipping and receiving facility from her cubicle! Think about it, “tens of thousands” of cartridges. Though the water district’s purchasing manager, accounting supervisor and one of its finance analysts were not implicated in the fraud, all three could lose their jobs because they failed to supervise – or even notice the cartridge scam.
Ms. McCain-Bray was so arrogant and flagrant in playing her game that she and her husband recently bought a home on one acre of land for $350,000. According to the article:
“Seen inside the gated property were several vehicles, including cars, trailers, an RV, a double-hulled powerboat and a late-model Audi SUV.”
Water district purchasing agents just don’t make that kind of money (her annual salary is about $98,000), and unless her husband had an incredible job, the home, cars, boat and other frills were at least partially bought and paid for by cartridge sales.
After her termination, after resigning she went to work for UNLV – as a purchasing agent! I’ve little doubt she won’t be in her position for long, and I can only wonder what decision maker hired her without realizing the unfolding scandal at the water district.
When Opportunity “Knocks”
There are some employees who will rush to do the unethical if the opportunity presents itself. When there are no checks and balances in place, no logical reporting structure, no supervision and no expectations, this is exactly what occurs.
If, as reading this, you start to feel sorry for the employees who were terminated for not supervising her, please don’t. If your inclination is to say, “I can’t imagine a woman doing this!” please don’t go there either. Unethical behavior does not know gender, race, religion, sexual orientation or any other dividing line. I have little doubt her husband knew of the fraud and certainly the crook who distributed the cartridges.
The best prevention to make certain these kinds of cases of fraud don’t occur in your organization is through ethical training and the implementation of stringent supervision and reporting expectations. The City of Las Vegas is out $4.5 million plus tens of thousands in shipping (not to mention time theft). It could have all been averted; that is the biggest shame of all.
YOUR COMMENTS ARE WELCOME!
Somebody ought to check out her mother and father. Lets see if their is anymore fraud and theft within their little nasty clan.
Her mother was a con artist and thief and her father benefitted financially from decades of dishonesty. That apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
Controls – lax. Internal audit function – non existant. Appetite to have a whistle blower policy – Nil. This probably is not the first theft from the district. This one only saw the light of day because the FBI got involved. All the others are probably hidden from public view.
A family of snakes. Liars, thieves. Sociopathic,envious, narcissists. And a nutless father who didn’t stop it from infecting his child.
Psychopath or Sociopath. Either genetically predisposed or a learned behavior. Gains everyone’s trust. Everyone likes her. Awesome personality. Does a great job. All of that was a lie. A con. A plot. A goal. The ego, narcissism, greed and the lack of morals, empathy and character that goes into a personality like this is frightening. She betrayed. lied and stole from the public. Thousands of people were her victims. She deserves to be locked up for a very long time. Psychological treatment should be in order before she is allowed out in the general public again.
the company she sold them too should get in trouble also, Symm Distributors in Carteret NJ and also listed in Woodbridge NJ. The familys last name is Rastogi. The Rastogis kept the money they made off of this scam and are living large.