The FBI is investigating a multi-million dollar purchasing scheme within the Las Vegas Valley Water District.

The focus of the investigation is a former employee who allegedly bought and then re-sold huge amounts of office supplies in an operation that lasted years.

The alleged scheme may have started as long as five years ago. It was finally detected in December 2015. The I-Team first learned in February that the FBI was investigating it, but agreed to hold off on the story for a while.



No one involved is willing to speak on camera, however, multiple sources, including current and former water district employees, helped the I-Team piece together a complicated scenario in which millions of public dollars were spent on office supplies.



On Dec. 2, 2015, an employee at the water district spotted an odd computer entry and decided to check around. Inside the office of longtime purchasing agent Jennifer McCain Bray, known to most as JJ, were several boxes ready to be shipped out of state.

McCain, described as a trusted and well-liked employee, had the authority to order and pay for office supplies, but some wondered why deliveries were being made to her office instead of the warehouse.

An internal investigation was launched.

In a statement to the I-Team, the district confirmed it uncovered a pattern of “unauthorized fraudulent purchases.” Within a few days, McCain resigned, and the FBI was called in.

The reason for that is the packages in McCain’s office were being re-routed to a company named Symm Distributors in New Jersey. The I-Team checked the address. It’s a house in the town of Woodbridge.

It took weeks to identify and tally all of the purchases deemed suspicious, but the final stunning number is at least $4.3 million in public money that walked out the door.

The district statement does not mention JJ McCain by name, but other internal records obtained by the I-Team provide clues as to how the operation worked.

For example, on her last full day at the district, McCain went on a spending spree, buying piles of printer cartridges. All of the orders were made online. All were purchased from one place: Staples.

There was an order for 23 HP-61 black cartridges at a cost of $252; 13 tri-color HP-22 cartridges for $203; and 23 HP-27s. In that one day, she ordered nearly 300 ink cartridges for different printers.

By one estimate, McCain spent an average of $40,000 per month on printer ink. There are orders for different styles for different machines, every color imaginable – black, yellow, magenta – some for printers that were no longer in use.

Why did no one notice? One reason is that internal controls were circumvented. Records show McCain’s name attached to dozens of account numbers other than her own. Purchases were made from accounts that should have been defunct, because they belonged to employees who left during the district’s downsizing and departments that were absorbed or eliminated during budget cutbacks.

In 2014, McCain spent $1.2 million on ink, but was even busier the next year.

Internal records from Staples show what certainly looks like an unusual spending pattern for water district office supplies: $6,800 for furniture that year; $38,000 for paper; and a whopping $1.5 million for toner ink.

If anyone at Staples thought it was odd, they didn’t complain. Staples declined to comment for this report.

The I-Team tried to contact Symm Distrubutors in New Jersey, but the phone number is no longer in service. Online records show the three principal figures share the last name Rastogi, but attempts to reach them by phone and by email were unsuccessful.

Investigators suspect printer cartridges were shipped from the water district to the Woodbridge house and then were likely re-sold. FBI agents are exploring possible links to organized crime.

Last October, a somewhat threatening email was sent to JJ McCain from a man named Mukul Rastogi. The email chides McCain for not shipping accurately. “Do I need to come out there to show you how to do this?” The emailer asks ominously.

In January, FBI agents visited McCain at the sprawling home she and her husband purchased late last year. Agents questioned her about printing cartridges, and why she resigned from a $90,000-per-year job at the district.

The McCain home includes what looks like a new casita, a swimming pool under construction, several luxurious RVs, travel trailers, fifth wheels, dune buggies and other expensive toys.

UNLV recently hired McCain to work as a purchasing agent. Las Vegas Valley Water District sources say the university never called to check with her previous employer.

The FBI is actively investigating this matter, trying to find out if this is part of a much larger network that plundered other public entities.

JJ McCain, so far, has not been charged with a crime. FBI agents re-interviewed her earlier this week.

The IRS also launched a tax audit of McCain and her husband last year.

The I-Team spoke with McCain this week, but she wanted the conversation off the record. The impression she gave is that she believed this was behind her, and it would be kept confidential, because of something she signed when she resigned.

Water district officials declined to appear on camera, but have been forthright in acknowledging the central facts, including the estimated loss of more than $4 million.

In the district’s view, key personnel failed to do their jobs and, thus, internal controls did not work.