U.S. Attorney’s Employee Indicted on Fraud Charges

An employee in the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles was indicted Wednesday for allegedly using government credit cards to buy more than $100,000 worth of goods and services for herself and friends.

Dorothy Menyweather, 36, was indicted on one count of theft of government property and nine counts of wire and mail fraud.

Authorities said she used the credit cards to pay personal bills, to travel alone and with friends, and to buy clothes, computers, stereo equipment, gift certificates and other goods.

Menyweather was a single mother who spent some of the money on computer games for her children, said Justice Department spokesman John Russell.

She allegedly used the credit cards to pay off bills for herself, her friends and relatives. And she sold some of her purchases, using the office’s FedEx account to ship them to her customers, according to a statement issued by the Justice Department.

Authorities said Menyweather falsified reports and computer entries to conceal her purchases.

Reached at her home, Menyweather said she hadn’t been notified of any pending criminal charges.

“I don’t know anything about it,” Menyweather said. “No one has confronted me with it.”

When told the details of the formal accusations, Menyweather said: “I’m not accountable for what people will say. I don’t even know what the allegations are. I don’t even want to discuss this.”

Authorities with the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington said Menyweather held a mid-level job in the U.S. attorney’s Los Angeles administrative office, which handles travel vouchers, expenses and other financial matters for about 200 federal prosecutors.

Those prosecutors represent the Department of Justice in criminal and civil matters in the seven counties in and around Southern California.

Russell said he couldn’t discuss exactly what Menyweather did at the office, or how she was able to allegedly spend so much money without being detected.

“She had a job of trust, a job of responsibility, that’s all I can tell you,” Russell said. “She has a responsibility not to violate the public trust and she did so.”

According to the indictment and other documents, Menyweather was issued a credit card as part of her duties, and was authorized to use it to buy “goods and services only for the use and benefit” of the government. She was authorized to spend no more than $2,500 per purchase.

Starting in July 1997 and continuing through March 2000, however, Menyweather “kept and enjoyed the use and benefit of a significant amount” of what she bought, documents said. She “also sold and distributed for free” many of those items to friends and relatives, according to the documents.

Prosecutors from the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section in Washington initiated and filed the case because federal prosecutors in Los Angeles couldn’t. Since they worked with Menyweather, such a prosecution would be a conflict of interest.

Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, said he could not comment because his office had been recused from the case.

Menyweather was suspended without pay in March during the investigation, authorities said.

But late Wednesday, Menyweather disputed that. She said she still worked for the office, and that she had not been placed on leave or disciplined in any way.

If convicted, Menyweather faces a maximum of 10 years in federal prison on the theft charge and five years on each fraud count, plus fines, although federal sentencing guidelines typically call for somewhat lesser penalties.