FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC or
MARCIA MURPHY at 410-209-4885
November 30, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FORMER NIH EMPLOYEE SENTENCED FOR USING GOVERNMENT CREDIT CARDS
FOR PERSONAL USE
Baltimore, Maryland - U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz sentenced Tamia M. McCoy, age 33, of Germantown, Maryland, today to six months in prison, followed by six months of home detention as part of three years of supervised release, and 100 hours of community service, for theft of government property and money, in connection with her use of government credit cards to make unauthorized purchases of goods and services for her personal use. McCoy was also ordered by pay restitution of $106,096.09.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and Elton Malone, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General, Office of Investigations, Special Investigations Branch.
According to McCoy’s plea agreement, beginning in November 2007, McCoy was employed at the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, as a purchasing agent and procurement analyst. McCoy was issued a government credit card to purchase goods and services for official use. However, between May and December 2011, McCoy used two government issued credit cards to buy goods and services for her personal use.
Specifically, McCoy’s purchases included approximately 119 iPads and other electronics, designer perfume and clutch bag, and a queen-size mattress set. McCoy directed the retailers to ship many of these items to her home. McCoy kept some of the items for her personal use and resold others on the internet. McCoy also used her government credit card to purchase services for her personal benefit, including house cleaning and cell phone service.
To avoid detection, McCoy falsified documents and disputed some of the charges with the credit card issuer, falsely claiming that she had not purchased the items in question. The loss to the government from McCoy’s unauthorized purchases was $106,096.09.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General for its work in the investigation and thanked Assistant United States Attorney David I. Salem, who prosecuted the case.