Former McCain supporter indicted on fraud charges

A former New Hampshire supporter of U.S. Sen. John McCain has been indicted on misdemeanor charges relating to mileage reimbursements.

Richard Brothers, head of the Department of Employment Security, has been accused of filing reimbursement forms for trips that he did not make.

“For each month between August 2007 and May 2008, the informations charge that Richard Brothers knowingly made a written false statement, which he did not believe to be true, with a purpose to deceive a public servant in the performance of his or her official function, by submitting travel vouchers for reimbursement for mileage and tolls and attesting to trips he had not actually taken, thereby causing the State to reimburse him for mileage and toll expenses he had not actually incurred for the dates and/or locations stated on the travel vouchers,” reads the indictment from New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly Ayotte.

Brothers was an alternative delegate, for McCain, to the Republican National Convention in 2008 and served on McCain’s Belknap County leadership committee during the New Hampshire presidential primary.

Gov. John Lynch (D-NH) said that Brothers should immediately resign.

“These are very serious charges that result from a thorough investigation by the Attorney General's Office. I call on Richard Brothers to resign,” Lynch said in a press release. “I have also directed Richard Brothers not to enter any Employment Security facility, effective immediately.”