WASHINGTON, D.C. – Five U.S. Government Accountability Office employees, and hundreds of other federal employees, allegedly under-reported their income or reported no income at all to secure free or reduced price lunches for their children.

Five employees of the federal watchdog agency, including one Prince George’s County school board member, were indicted Tuesday on fraud charges for allegedly stealing free and reduced price lunches for their children, The Washington Post reports.

Those five employees, along with the spouse of an employee, allegedly cost taxpayers $13,000 over four years for the allegedly stolen school lunches by under-reporting their incomes to qualify. They include Prince George’s County school board member Lynette Mundey, as well as Barbara Rowley, Jamilah Reid, Tracy Williams, Charlene Savoy and GAO employee spouse James Pickney.

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Mundey turned in her resignation to the board, effective this month, amid the GAO investigation this spring, telling a local newspaper she left to pursue a doctorate degree, according to the Post.

Mundey was appointed to the board by county executive Rushern Baker in 2013, NBC Washington reports.

John Erzen, spokesman for the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office, said the federal employees are “stealing federal dollars that could be going to other students,” according to the news site.

“This program is for people who can’t afford (school lunches), but these are people who can,” he told the Post.

The income threshold for the free and reduced-price lunches is $30,615 for a family of four for free lunches, and $43,568 for a family of four for reduced-price lunches. The reduced-price lunches cost 40 cents, while a full priced lunch runs $2.75 for elementary students and $3 for middle and high school students in Prince George’s County.

County and federal officials said the indicted GAO employees took in between $55,000 and $78,000 annually, according to the news site.

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They now face charges of theft, fraud and filing false applications, Fox News reports.

“We were both disappointed and surprised during the course of our investigation to discover some of our own employees might be involved,” GAO spokesman Charles Young said in a statement. “We will now be monitoring the judicial process and then determine what personnel actions might be appropriate.”

Erzen vowed not to give Mundey special treatment because of her relationship with county officials.

“She is not above the law,” he told NBC Washington. “She’s going to be treated just as any other normal citizen would.”

Prince George’s executive Baker’s office issued a statement that Baker is “deeply disappointed with the news of indictments of GAO employees … specifically Board of Education Member Lyn Mundey. …

“These allegations of improper use of a critical and much needed federal program are disheartening and concerning,” the statement read, according to the news site.

State’s Attorney Angela Alsobrooks also spoke out in a prepared statement.

“The actions of these individuals have threatened the integrity of a program meant to help those in need,” Alsobrooks said. “There is no excuse for stealing funds intended to go to children whose parents cannot afford the school lunches.”

GAO officials told the media the hundreds of other federal employees believed to have stolen school lunches were referred to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the lunch program, as well as local authorities in three states and the District of Columbia.