Mitchener's motion for dismissal denied
A motion to dismiss one of the charges against a Roachdale woman accused of stealing more than $56,000 from local special education cooperative Old National Trail has been denied.
Putnam County Circuit Court Judge Matthew Headley denied the motion, filed by Tammy Y. Mitchener's attorney Robert C. Perry, on Thursday.
Mitchener has been formally charged with Class C felony corrupt business influence (also known as racketeering) and Class D felony theft.
The Class C felony charge was filed because Mitchener allegedly wrote $56,639.19 worth of checks from the ONT account to PC Technologies, a dummy corporation the Putnam County Prosecutor's Office said she created and set up a bank account for.
Perry argued that because PC Technologies and Mitchener herself were not separate entities, she should not have been charged with corrupt business influence.
Perry also said Mitchener, as an individual, could not be considered an enterprise.
A response from the state prepared by Deputy Prosecutor Justin Long said, "Tammy Mitchener did not just commit a simple theft. She did not steal checks from Old National Trail and cash them. She set up a fake business with a name similar enough to a current vendor as to not create suspicion from her superiors and to help cover up her crimes."
In addition to the checks she allegedly wrote to herself, an audit done by the Indiana State Board of Accounts showed that ONT lost more than $52,000 in penalties and interest paid to the Internal Revenue Service and the Indiana Department of Revenue due to Mitchener's negligence.
Mitchener, 33, is set to be in court for a change of plea hearing on June 25. She was employed by ONT as its treasurer when the alleged thefts occurred. She was arrested on Dec. 2, and was released from jail that day after 10 percent of a $10,000 bond was posted.
Mitchener is accused of committing the crimes she is charged with between Feb. 24, 2008 and Oct. 31, 2008, court documents said.
An audit conducted by the Indiana State Board of Accounts showed that ONT also lost more than $52,000 as a result of Mitchener's alleged misconduct.
On June 10, five new charges -- four counts of Class C felony forgery and a count of Class D felony official misconduct -- were filed against Mitchener. Those charges were filed because further investigation revealed that Mitchener may have intentionally changed records to reflect that ONT payments went somewhere other than to PC Technologies, and also that she signed another woman's name to the checks.
She has yet to appear in court and plead to those charges.
If convicted on all charges, Mitchener could face more than 40 years in prison.