Here's where indicted former township trustee Mariama Wilson's criminal case stands

EVANSVILLE — Pigeon Township Trustee Mariama Wilson and her former aide could stand trial in September for their alleged roles in an unlawful kickback scheme that prosecutors said siphoned off funds intended for a homeless shelter.

Wilson, 51, was previously scheduled to stand trial May 13 in the U.S. Southern District of Indiana, but according to court records her attorney successfully petitioned a judge for a delay.

William E. Payne, Wilson’s codefendant, was also previously scheduled to stand trial in May, court records state.

Payne, 51, served as Wilson’s community relations director before federal prosecutors secured indictments against the duo and a contractor after they allegedly bilked about $38,000 in public funds by inflating invoices that were later paid by the township.

In an April 16 order, Judge Matthew P. Brookman vacated Wilson and Payne’s May trial date, rescheduling it to begin Sept. 19.

“This court finds that the ends of justice served by taking this action outweigh the best interest of the defendant and the public in a speedy trial,” Brookman wrote in the order. “Failure to grant a continuance would deny counsel for the defendants the reasonable time necessary for effective preparation…”

The Courier & Press left a message with Wilson’s attorney, Jeffrey Baldwin, seeking comment on the status of the case but did not receive a response prior to publication of this article.

The two former township officials are facing an uphill legal battle. The contractor who allegedly forwarded Wilson and Payne a portion of the funds he received to renovate the Dorathea MacGregor Homeless Shelter has already pleaded guilty in federal court, and he implicated both Wilson and Payne in the kickback scheme.

According to Hardiman’s plea agreement, he admitted to conspiring with Wilson and Payne to commit wire fraud and that he laundered a portion of the payments he received from the Pigeon Township Trustee’s Office.

"In order to accomplish the goals of the scheme, and to avoid detection, Wilson, Payne and (Hardiman) agreed that (Hardiman) would create false invoices for the homeless shelter and food pantry projects," Hardiman's plea agreement states. "The kickbacks intended for Wilson and Payne were to be hidden inside the falsely inflated prices."

Over a span of years, Wilson and Payne are alleged to have made off with about $19,000 each. Both were indicted alongside Hardiman in April 2023.

In addition to the federal case, the Indiana State Board of Accounts also accused Wilson and Payne of mismanaging funds and found that the pair should repay the township more than $55,000.

Besides Hardiman’s plea agreement and sworn admission that he conspired with Wilson and Payne, public records also substantiate some claims prosecutors made in the indictments levied against Wilson and Payne.

The Courier & Press obtained 110 pages of financial documents pertaining to the township’s business dealings with Hardiman last year through a public records request. The batch of documents included dozens of invoices and checks and records of payments that prosecutors previously identified as part of the alleged kickback scheme.

The Courier & Press confirmed the invoices it obtained were the same as those identified by prosecutors as “inflated” by comparing the invoices’ identification numbers, dates, dollar amounts and signatures with information listed in federal court records.

The documents detail renovation projects Hardiman pledged to carry out at the Dorathea MacGregor Homeless Shelter and how much each renovation would cost the township.

While the records show that Wilson and Payne personally signed off on payments to Hardiman for construction projects, the documents do not, by themselves, specify how individual payments were inflated.

The allegations against Wilson prompted her to resign from her post as Pigeon Township Trustee in June 2023. Vanderburgh County Democrats tapped Ruby McGlown to replace Wilson in the role.

This week, McGlown told the Courier & Press that the Dorathea MacGregor Homeless Shelter was in a "liveable" state and that it was currently housing one family.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Former township trustee's trial delayed to September