Police Investigate Possible Theft Of State Dems Funds

The Star's Jon Murray and Vic Ryckaert are reporting an Indianapolis police investigation into $73,000 in missing funds from the Indiana Democratic Party. The reported theft may have been accomplished through unauthorized credit card charges. The story reads:

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police are investigating the embezzlement of $73,000 from the Indiana Democratic Party.

Party officials discovered an unauthorized credit card last month that had been used for nearly two years and billed automatically from a party account, said Mary Chandler, general counsel for the state party. No charges have been filed, but a police report was written today by Detective Gerald Rieger. It mentions Kim Bostic, the former comptroller responsible for the party's internal accounting.

Bostic stopped working for the party during the third week of January, Chandler said, and her departure was "mutually agreeable."

The unauthorized credit card was discovered after Bostic's employment ended, Chandler said.

An audit determined that $94,000 had been charged to the card since February 2005, Chandler said. Of that, she said, about $73,000 in charges were unrelated to the party.

A phone message left this afternoon for Marcel Pratt, Bostic's attorney, has not yet been returned.

You may recall Marion Co. Prosecutor Carl Brizzi (R) prosecuted staffer Brad Hiller for embezzling more than a $100,000 from the Indiana Republican Senate Majority Campaign Committee. Hiller worked as a lobbyist for Bose Treacy when the missing funds were discovered. He served a prison sentence after pleading guilty.