City project manager charged with fraud

A former city project manager and two co-conspirators allegedly embezzled more than $800,000 from the City of Bloomington since May 2011.

U.S. Attorney Joseph Hogsett announced the discovery of the possible embezzlement today at a press conference with representatives from the Bloomington Police Department and the FBI.

Justin Wykoff, former city of Bloomington senior project manager, was charged in district court today in Indianapolis with 24 counts of embezzlement and one count of conspiracy.

Wykoff, Roger Hardin and his son Zachary Hardin were arrested this morning by federal agents in Bedford. All three will face charges of conspiracy to commit a federal crime.

Weeks ago, a City employee tipped Bloomington police of the suspicious activity. The U.S. Attorney office alleges that Wykoff created fraudulent invoices for city project works never performed or work performed by other subcontractors.

Steven DeBrota, senior litigation counsel for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the southern Indiana district, said the Hardins would receive payment for the projects and give Wykoff a “kick-back” of one-third of the payment.

The co-conspirators sent the false invoices to the city for payment to Reliable Concrete Construction for a project on Rogers near Second Street and several other projects.

Dennis Barbosa