IG vs. ICJI
The Indiana Inspector general is providing more details into his investigation of former Criminal Justice Institute Director Heather Bolejack and the awarding of a $417,000 grant to family friend Mike McKenna.
In the report released today Dave Thomas reached four primary findings:
1.The primary purpose of the SKIP (Saving Kids of Incarcerated Parents) grant award was to benefit McKenna and not provide mentoring services to juveniles as required by federal law.
2. The timeline of events indicates that Bolejack was personally and substantially involved in awarding the grant without Board approval.
3. Documents were falsified to make it appear as if the grant had been properly and legally approved to cover up an apparent deception.
4. Bolejack attempted to direct at least two more grants or contracts to McKenna which ICJI staff refused to process.
The IG conducted interviews with 50 witnesses and also gave Bolejack several opportunities to answer the allegations. The IG tells me she did meet with them in two meetings, one of which they revealed the preliminary fidings. That would seem to contradict Heather’s statements to the Indianapolis Star where she said she did not find out about the full allegations against her until May 10. I’ll thumb through the rest of the report over the weekend, but this is the latest.
