State employee indicted on theft, fraud, forgery charges
A Juneau grand jury on Friday indicted state Department of Education and Early Development employee Gary Martin with stealing more than $150,000 from the state, the district attorney's office announced late Friday.
Martin has been charged with two counts of first-degree theft, two counts of a scheme to defraud, two counts of first-degree tampering with public records, two counts of official misconduct, and 14 counts of second-degree forgery, the district attorney's office said. All the offenses, except for official misconduct, are felonies.
Martin, who worked as a procurement manager for the state library, is charged with presenting the Department of Education with false bills for services rendered from two non-existent companies, Digital Edge and Digital Reproductions, for work never done. Martin created false documentation for the work and then had state checks issued to the companies, which he cashed, the district attorney's office alleged.
Martin also is charged, in a pending case, with possessing automatic weapons and obtaining drugs by deception. In a court document, prosecutors allege that Martin obtained a prescription for Vicodin, a powerful painkiller, by using a false birth date and Social Security number. Martin has pleaded innocent and the trial is set for Feb. 10 on those charges.
The district attorney's office has moved to revoke Martin's probation in a previous case in which he was convicted of attempted misconduct involving a controlled substance in the fourth degree. The Juneau District Court has not set a date for the hearing in that case.
Martin is in the Lemon Creek Correctional Center, but bail has not been set on the new indictment, authorities said.
An audit of Martin's work at the state library continues along with the police investigations regarding other thefts that were testified about at a bail hearing on Nov. 18, the district attorney's office said.
At the bail hearing, state a Department of Education official alleged that Martin embezzled about $246,000 from the agency. Finance Officer Brenda O'Donnell testified that Martin charged nearly $94,000 in Internet purchases to a state credit card, but the state never received any of the goods. That allegation wasn't addressed in Friday's indictment.
Martin's attorney could not be reached for comment Saturday.