CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE - United States Attorney Tom Colantuono and Hillsborough County Attorney Marguerite Wageling report that a federal Grand Jury has indicted Linda D. Bevins of Greenville, New Hampshire, for stealing about $1.6 million from the Crotched Mountain Foundation.

The Crotched Mountain Foundation is a nonprofit charitable organization that provides rehabilitative, educational, and other services to children and adults with disabilities and their families. It receives federal funds in the form of subsidy payments administered by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development for housing for the disabled and elderly. It is a violation of federal law for an employee of an organization that receives federal funding to steal more than $5,000 from that organization.
The indictment returned against Bevins, charges that from about June, 2004, through about July, 2007, when she was employed as the payroll supervisor for Crothched Mountain, she manipulated the organization's payroll system to divert about $1.6 million in unauthorized payments to herself and others. Bevins allegedly caused unauthorized electronic deposits drawn on Crotched Mountain's payroll account to be made to her personal accounts and to the personal accounts of others, and caused unauthorized paychecks to be issued to former and current employees of the organization. Bevins is alleged to have forged the endorsements on those checks and to have negotiated them or deposited them in her accounts. The indictment also alleges that Bevins caused other unauthorized paychecks to be her issued payable in her name and in the name of another individual.

Bevins was arraigned today in United States District Court in Concord, New Hampshire, on a one-count indictment charging her with stealing more than $5,000 from an organization that received federal funding. She entered a not guilty plea. The court scheduled a trial for May 6, 2008, and ordered that Bevins be released subject to the supervision of the United States Probation Office pending her trial.

If convicted, Bevins is facing possible a maximum prison sentence of 10 years and a possible maximum fine of twice the amount of money she allegedly stole or about $3.3 million.

An indictment is only an allegation and not proof of criminal conduct. As in all criminal cases, the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This case is being investigated by the FBI, the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Greenfield Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark S. Zuckerman and Assistant Hillsborough County Attorney Karen Gorham.