Couple used government funds to vacation at Disney World, DOJ says

• An Army contractor and his girlfriend used government funds for “numerous” personal vacations, prosecutors said.
• They made 31 trips to Orlando, where they “spent time at the pool and Disney parks,” the DOJ said.
• A judge previously ordered one of them to pay nearly half a million dollars in restitution.

An Army contractor and his girlfriend used government funds to fund personal vacations across the country, including 31 trips to Orlando, federal prosecutors say.

A federal judge sentenced Chantelle Boyd, 53, on Oct. 2 to six months of home detention and two years of supervised release. Her conviction came four years after police arrested her and her partner, Thomas Bouchard, 61, in 2020.

Both were convicted of “conspiracy to defraud the government of thousands of dollars” between 2014 and 2018,” according to the Department of Justice.

Boyd will be ordered to pay restitution, but the amount will be determined at a separate date. A judge sentenced Bouchard in August to 12 months and one day in prison, followed by one year of supervised release. The judge ordered Bouchard to pay $487,658.87 in restitution.

Bouchard oversaw the US Army Natick Contracting Division in Massachusetts, a contracting service for the Department of Defense. He used his connections to hire Boyd for a “no-show position” as an assistant, prosecutors said.

“Bouchard and Boyd took numerous government-sponsored trips ranging from two to 15 days in length under the pretense that they were work-related,” the Justice Department said.

Their government-funded trips included 31 trips to Orlando, during which Boyd “did little or no work.” Boyd’s position cost the Defense Department nearly $500,000, prosecutors said.

“For many of the trips, Bouchard and Boyd stayed in the same hotel room and spent time at the pool and at Disney parks — all during business hours,” federal prosecutors said.

According to the indictment, Boyd also traveled to Maryland, Virginia, Alabama and Clearwater, Florida.

Representatives for Boyd, Bouchard, the U.S. Army Natick Contracting Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Massachusetts did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. The Department of Defense referred Business Insider to the US Army.