Former GIPC Executive Director Sentenced To Four Years For Embezzlement

Matthew Hendrix, the former executive director of Indianapolis' shadow government known as the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee, accepted a plea agreement today that will require him to serve a 4-year sentence in a community corrections program in Vigo County with two years suspended. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss 22 of 26 forgery counts and one theft count against Hendrix in exchange for his agreement to plead guilty to four felony forgery counts. Hendrix was also ordered to repay $126,356.37 to GIPC as restitution.

Hendrix was accused of stealing $96,000 from the nonprofit agency housed in the City-County Building near the mayor's office by making numerous payments to fictitious vendors at the time charges were filed against him in May. Hendrix was accused of spending the money he stole on strippers and to feed a gambling addiction. GIPC's chairman, J. Murray Clark, Jr., fired Hendrix in March only weeks before he faced criminal charges. Clark told reporters at the time that GIPC officials were unaware Hendrix had stolen money when his services were terminated. Hendrix received a severance payment of $17,000 from GIPC, which probably was the minimum amount he needed to pay as a hefty retainer fee to his high-profile criminal defense attorney, Jim Voyles. It was later revealed that a $5,000 credit card charge had been the cause of Hendrix termination in March.