Malden employee is charged with theft of tax money
MALDEN - A city employee with a substance abuse problem was charged yesterday with engaging in a long-term scheme to steal property tax money that may have netted her and others an estimated $500,000, according to prosecutors and her lawyer.
Gia Desantis Cox has worked in the city treasurer's office since 2002 and at some point during that time allegedly began writing checks for relatively small amounts to coconspirators who would cash them and split the proceeds with her, said Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr.
"What she did was abuse the trust they placed in her and misused the access that they gave her to steal, over a period of time, money from taxpayers in Malden who had overpaid their real estate taxes," Leone said.
According to Leone and a State Police report filed in Malden District Court, Mayor Richard C. Howard alerted investigators to the alleged scam earlier this month and cooperated in the investigation.
"I am outraged by this alleged violation of public trust by one of our own employees," he said in a statement. "I intend to hold all parties accountable and to do everything we can to recover these funds and to correct any deficiencies in our financial processes."
Cox, whose father is a city Department of Public Works employee and whose husband is a police officer, pleaded not guilty in Malden District Court to one count of larceny over $250, one count of conspiracy to commit larceny and illegal possession of two oxycodone pills.
She was released on $2,500 cash bail set by District Court Judge Matthew Nestor.
Leone said he does not believe any other city employees were participants in the larceny scheme.
In a telephone interview, Cox's lawyer, Robert A. George, said the 26-year-old has been battling substance abuse issues and will seek inpatient treatment over the next several days.
"It's being done to save her life and not necessarily to prepare a defense," George said of the treatment. "Gia is not a drug trafficker, but is a person with a terrible, and life-threatening, substance abuse problem."
According to a State Police report and prosecutors, the city in 2006 began publishing a list of people who had overpaid on their taxes and Cox was assigned by the city to write the checks out to taxpayers.
Instead, she allegedly conspired with people - the exact number is under investigation but it could be as many as 30 individuals - and issued them checks for money they were not entitled to collect.
Cox was arrested last Thursday after State Police followed her from City Hall to a nearby fast food restaurant. There, she was seen handing something to her codefendant, Alan Valdes. He went inside a bank where he cashed a check, police said in the report.
When arrested, Valdes had $1,200 in cash on him while Cox had $2,482 in cash, according to the report. George said Valdes was an acquaintance of Cox.
Valdes, 32, of Malden, was also arraigned yesterday in Malden District Court and bail was set at $2,500 cash after he pleaded not guilty to one count of larceny over $250 and conspiracy to commit larceny.
Cox and Valdes are due back in court Jan. 9. 