9 Arraigned in $1.1-Million City Workers’ Comp Fraud : Courts: The alleged mastermind is a former personnel official. She and the co-defendants plead not guilty.

A former Los Angeles city personnel supervisor and eight others were arraigned Thursday on charges that they bilked the municipal treasury of $1.1 million using phony workers’ compensation claims.

In a 28-count indictment unsealed Thursday, the Los Angeles County Grand Jury portrayed onetime claims manager Thelma Bowman, 43, of Los Angeles as the architect of the scheme, described by authorities as the largest fraud case of its kind in California.

Bowman, who has been in custody since her arrest in July, pleaded not guilty to the charges along with her co-defendants. All face up to eight years in prison.

Under one scheme, authorities said, Bowman authorized fraudulent workers’ compensation payments to Dr. Eddie James Boatwright, 41, of Carson after providing him with enough information to dummy up billings for medical services to city employees. In two instances, the indictment says, Boatwright fabricated billings using the name of another doctor who died seven months before the services were allegedly rendered.

In other cases, authorities say, Bowman authorized phony disability claims using altered computer records with payments then sent to friends and three of Bowman’s nieces.

Bowman also was alleged to have provided information enabling several private investigators to fabricate billings for services.

The schemes, authorities said, ran from August, 1992, to June, 1994, and enabled Bowman, a 25-year city employee, to live well beyond the means of her $52,000 annual salary. The extravagances included a $352,000 home in Baldwin Hills and trips to Paris, Switzerland and other overseas destinations, according to authorities who uncovered the scheme during a routine audit of the city’s workers’ compensation system.

The money lost in the fraud has been recovered through insurance, officials said.

Bowman’s attorney, Anthony R. Garcia, said his client will continue to maintain her innocence. Garcia added only that the proceedings thus far--including the grand jury’s actions--have not allowed her or other defendants to “address any of the accusations by the district attorney.”

Five others originally named in the case have pleaded guilty to lesser charges in exchange for their testimony before the grand jury, Deputy Dist. Atty. Thomas Krag said Thursday.

The prosecutor said Boatwright has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to commit insurance fraud, the most serious of several charges brought against against him in the case. Boatwright faces a sentence ranging from probation to three years in state prison.

Also pleading guilty to lesser charges in exchange for their testimony were Bowman’s nieces, Trina Irvin, 32, Tracey Johnson, 29, and Teresa Denise Wilson, 31, all of Compton, and Dora Lee Hooper, 44, of Los Angeles, an acquaintance of Bowman. All were sentenced to three years probation and 250 hours of community service.

Others arraigned and pleading not guilty Thursday were Bowman’s brother, Jerome Clifton Gavin, 46, of Los Angeles; private investigators Harris Eugene Harris, 45, of Carson, Richard Ervin, 54, of Los Angeles and Theron Wiggins, 39, of Inglewood, and Bowman friends and acquaintances Gary Graham, 43, of Los Angeles, Frank Mack, 51, of Compton, Juanita Morris, 30 of North Hollywood, and Ikey Curry, 46, address unknown.