How dumb are thieves these days?

Five Washington, D.C. employees were arrested for stealing and laundering $16 million from the city. What blows my mind is that they stole an average of $3 million each and were still working for the city. I'm an honest man; however, if I were going to become a thief and managed to steal a few million dollars from the city, you can bet I wouldn't be spending it an Neiman Marcus - where defendant Harriette Walters is accused of spending more than $1.4 million. If I had just stolen $1.4 million, I'd be in a nice little villa in Bermuda with the money invested in some nice Bermuda insurance company making myself a ridiculous sum of money.

D.C. Hit by Costliest Corruption Scandal in History
City Employees Charged With Taking $16 Million; Using Money to Buy Luxury Goods
ABC News

Federal law enforcement and Washington D.C., city officials announced arrests and charges Wednesday in the costliest public corruption scandal to ever hit the district's government.

Five individuals are in custody for a scheme that allegedly defrauded the D.C. government out of more than $16 million. Charges against them include mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy.

Officials say Harriette Walters, a manager of the D.C. Real Property Tax Administration Adjustments unit and Diane Gustus at the D.C. Office of Tax Revenue, were at the center of the operation. The pair allegedly approved and issued fraudulent property tax refund checks, that averaged $388,000 per check.

Investigators say the funds were used to buy luxury goods, including jewelry, homes and clothing. According to affidavits filed in the case, Walter's annual salary as a District of Columbia employee was $81,000. From September 2000 to the present, Harriette Walters spent more than $1.4 million at Neiman Marcus.

"They abused the trust the district placed in them," U.S. attorney Jeff Taylor of the District of Columbia said at a news conference announcing the charge.