INDIANAPOLIS—United States Attorney, Josh J. Minkler, announced today the sentencing of the former chief financial officer for Center Township in Indianapolis. Alan Mizen 59, Zionsville, was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment by U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker after his conviction for theft of federal program funds.

“The citizens of Marion County deserve better from their public officials,” said Minkler. “I hope this sends a loud and strong message to anyone who abuses the public trust in Indiana. The U.S. Attorney’s Office will you hold you strictly accountable.”

Mizen served as the chief financial officer for Center Township. In June 2010, he set up an account with PNC Bank and deposited a check in the amount of $343,541.08 that was drawn from public funds. Mizen then used the computerized accounting system at the Center Township Trustee’s Office to create a false invoice indicating that he had written the check to the “Treasurer of State.”

Mizen then transferred the funds to various personal accounts that he maintained. From these personal accounts, Mizen used over $200,000 towards the purchase of a residence in Zionsville, the purchase of a Toyota Tacoma pickup truck, the funding of his child’s college education, personal vacations, the purchase a diamond necklace and diamond ring for $8,900 during a trip to the Cayman Islands and made other consumer purchases. Mizen used embezzled taxpayer funds to finance these personal expenditures from June 10, 2010, through July 2012.

Minkler stated that this case was the result of outstanding law enforcement work by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Indiana State Board of Accounts with the assistance of the Internal Revenue Service. All three agencies are partners in the U.S. Attorney=s Public Integrity Working Group, which was launched in April 2012, with the stated purpose of aggressively investigating allegations of public fraud, waste and abuse by public officials in Indiana.

We are glad that the citizens of Center Township are getting the funds that were taken from them by Mr. Mizen,” said Indiana State Board of Accounts State Examiner, Paul Joyce. “We all have the right to expect honest representation from our elected and/or appointed officials at all levels of government. I hope that those few public servants that decide to violate this trust will see that we, in conjunction with our state and federal partners, are prosecuting these officials and realize that this is not acceptable and we will hold them accountable.”

According to Senior Litigation Counsel Bradley A. Blackington, who prosecuted the case for the government, Mizen was ordered to pay $343,000 in restitution. This restitution will be paid in full from funds in the accounts maintained by Mizen that were frozen by the government as part of the investigation.