Cheltenham Twp. Among 100 Victims Of Executives' $2.1M Fraud: AG

CHELTENHAM TOWNSHIP, PA — Cheltenham Township is among numerous municipalities in eastern Pennsylvania victimized by executives of a local company who vastly overbilled them, authorities said.

The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office announced charges against Boucher & James, Inc., a land planning and civil engineering company, on Monday. Former owner Ross Boucher, along with former managing directors Mark Eisold and David Jones, all face criminal charges.

"When you bill for time that you didn’t work, you are stealing — and these former Boucher & James executives will be held accountable for their crimes," Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a statement, noting that the overbilling was a "routine" practice.

Cheltenham lost and was later reimbursed $44,146.60, according to a criminal complaint.

All told, more than 30 municipalities and more than 100 entities were defrauded, with a total of about $2.1 million stolen, officials said. In Montgomery County, Souderton ($11K) and Springfield Township ($172K) were also victimized.

Other area entities that were overbilled include the Bucks County Water and Sewer Authority, the Richland Township Board of Supervisors, Lower Makefield Township, and Ivyland Borough.

The scheme ran for nine years, from 2009 to 2018, the Attorney General's Office said. The company's executives would handwrite additional hours that had never been worked into draft invoices, with, in one case, a single employee working 34 hours in a single day, according to officials.

As a result of the thefts, the company executives also received bonuses due to the stolen income, Shapiro said.

Some $850,000 of those funds has been paid back since the allegations first surfaced, and the company has reconstituted its Board of Directors. Because the company is now fully cooperating in the investigation, it is not being charged itself.

Eisold, Jones, and Boucher all face charges of theft by deception, theft by receiving stolen property, deceptive business practices, corrupt organizations, and conspiracy. Preliminary hearings are forthcoming.