Former Vanderburgh County prosecutor’s finance director pleads guilty to wire fraud

EVANSVILLE — Regene Newman, the former Vanderburgh County prosecutor’s aide at the center of Courier & Press reporting on questionable expenditures by a nonprofit for at-risk youth, has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to wire fraud.

The offense is punishable by a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, according to court papers filed in the case. Newman is set to be sentenced on July 31 before U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young in Evansville’s federal courthouse.

Newman left then-Prosecutor Nick Hermann’s office in 2021, having been hired away from her job as finance director for the prosecutor’s office by Judge Wayne Trockman to serve as business director of community corrections. Newman was fired from that job in 2023, with Trockman saying Courier & Press reporting had eroded the agency’s confidence in Newman.

Community corrections provides therapeutic services such as drug and alcohol treatment, financial literacy classes, electronic monitoring, a GED program and other services for sentenced defendants. Newman was in charge of the roughly $3 million program’s financial affairs, including grants, said Trockman, its supervising judge.

My Goals Inc., was a nonprofit for at-risk youth started in 2011 by then-Prosecutor Nick Hermann.

In addition to serving as finance director in Hermann’s office, Newman was My Goals’ registered agent and secretary and a signer with Hermann to open its account at ETFCU, now Liberty Federal Credit Union.

Hermann, who was defeated by current Prosecutor Diana Moers in a 2022 Republican primary election, did not return a message for this story.

Newman’s tenure as finance director for the prosecutor’s office lasted from the late 1990s until 2021. She served first under Prosecutor Stan Levco and then under Hermann.

Attorney Jake Warrum, who represents Newman, declined to comment on Friday.

‘Sham donations’ are at heart of case

The basis for the wire fraud charge against Newman is explained step-by-step in the plea agreement petition. It points out that in her role as finance director for the prosecutor’s office, Newman had access to financial accounts associated with My Goals.

“Between in or around March 2016 and March 2021, the defendant stole approximately $60,028.66 from the Prosecutor’s Office and My Goals by making unauthorized purchases with a debit card connected to the My Goals checking account,” the documents state.

Elsewhere the U.S. Attorney’s Office specifically mentions purchases Newman made with My Goals money at such retailers as Ulta Beauty, Sephora, Versona and Chico’s.

Newman “ensured that the My Goals account had enough funds for her unauthorized purchases by causing the Prosecutor’s Office to periodically make sham donations to My Goals, pursuant to false and fraudulent Accounts Payable Vouchers,” the petition states.

Between Sept. 16, 2016, and Jan. 14, 2021, the government states, Newman submitted 12 false Accounts Payable Vouchers to the Vanderburgh County Auditor’s Office, “therein requesting that the Auditor’s Office permit the Prosecutor’s Office to donate a total of $55,000 to My Goals.”

“In the description field, Newman always wrote, ‘Donation,’ and often added, ‘Please hold check for Regene,'” the court papers state.

“Once the vouchers were approved by the Auditor’s Office and Newman received the corresponding checks, she generally deposited the checks into the My Goals account at ETFCU.”

But they were not donations to be used by My Goals for the benefit of the community, the government states.

“(Newman) omitted and concealed that she planned to use the funds for her personal benefit,” the court papers state.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says the wire fraud stems from Newman’s use of email to transmit the Accounts Payable Vouchers to the Auditor’s Office.

“Each email caused interstate wire communications to take place,” the court papers state.

In all, the U.S. Attorney’s Office states Newman has agreed to pay restitution totaling $101,133.55, including for “losses associated with any matter the Court determines to be ‘relevant conduct’ under (federal law).”

My Goals spending stopped after Newman left

The Courier & Press reported in March 2023 that bank statements for My Goals showed ATM and bank withdrawals and thousands of dollars in purchases at fast food restaurants, women’s clothing stores, hair salons and beauty retailers, convenience stores, pharmacies and supermarkets and out-of-town shopping sprees.

Other questionable expenses included Liquor Liquor, $89.86; Premiere Tan in Darmstadt, $71.33; and purchases at DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse in Evansville and high-end Kate Spade Outlet in Edinburgh, Indiana.

The Courier & Press reported that after Newman’s departure, My Goals made no large cash withdrawals or expenditures at women’s clothing stores, beauty retailers or out-of-town shopping sprees. It did make three large charitable donations.

Newman’s use of an official prosecutor’s office credit card also came under scrutiny in 2022, when a two-year Courier & Press analysis of spending in Hermann’s office revealed she had used a card to purchase such items as a “push-up T-shirt” bra, “goddess foxy tank” and jewelry at women’s clothing store Torrid.

Newman’s credit card also was used to buy two dozen “gourmet drizzled strawberries” that were sent to her home and other items such as Hershey’s syrup, acid-reducing omeprazole tabs, a special edition of People magazine, maraschino cherries, 54 Reese’s peanut butter cream Easter eggs, kosher salt, chunky applesauce, chicken salad and chocolate pudding.

The items were purchased for use in the prosecutor’s office, Newman said then. The county’s attorneys said the purchases didn’t appear to violate any criminal statutes, although the Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners passed a new, much stricter ordinance on credit card use as a result of the Courier & Press investigation.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Former prosecutor’s office finance director pleads guilty to wire fraud