BOSTON (AP) - A Massachusetts man and a Maryland woman have been charged with stealing military funds to take personal vacations under the guise of work, federal prosecutors said Friday.
Thomas Bouchard, 57, of Uxbridge, Massachusetts, and Chantelle Boyd, 50, of Woodsboro, Maryland, were arrested Monday, according to U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Andrew Lelling’s office.
They face conspiracy, theft of government funds and other charges.
Prosecutors said Bouchard, who headed up the U.S. Army’s Contracting Division in Natick, convinced Evolution Enterprise, a government contractor, to have Boyd hired for a “no show” job as an assistant.
Lelling’s office said Boyd “performed little if any useful function” in the job, which cost the U.S. Department of Defense nearly $500,000 from 2014 to 2018.
Prosecutors said the pair also took numerous government-funded trips, including 31 trips to Orlando, Florida and other locations, in which they stayed in the same hotel room, did little work and falsified travel reimbursement records.
Brad Bailey, Bouchard’s lawyer, said his client pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Thursday in Boston federal court and has been released with conditions. He said he’s “planning a vigorous defense.”
A Maryland public defender representing Boyd, who also appeared in federal court this week and was released, declined to comment.
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