Kansas City, Kan. ? Prosecutors in Wyandotte County say the indictments against a high-ranking Board of Public Utilities official and a lawyer represents one of the largest cases of alleged public corruption that county officials have seen.

BPU director of administration Marc Conklin and lawyer Rodney Turner are charged with stealing nearly $400,000 from the Kansas City, Kan., utility. They each face 57 charges in Wyandotte County District Court under indictments that came Friday and were unsealed by Judge Jack Lively.

The indictments charge Conklin, 43, and Turner, 68, with two counts of theft and 55 counts of submitting false claims between Sept. 1, 2003, and April 30, 2008.

Both men pleaded not guilty through their attorneys and were booked into the Wyandotte County jail Friday. A personal recognizance bond was set at $25,000 each.

Former U.S. Attorney Todd Graves, who is the defense attorney for Conklin, released a statement saying that Conklin “looks forward to a full and complete disclosure of all the facts and circumstances surrounding this matter.”

Wyandotte County District Attorney Jerome Gorman said during a news conference Friday that the allegations represent one of the largest public corruption cases he has prosecuted in the county.

Gorman would not give details about Turner’s role with BPU, but he said Turner would submit false claims and Conklin approved them. Both men knew the claims were false, Gorman said.

BPU sent out a release in wake of the indictments, but it did not mention Conklin by name. In the release, the utility announced that its director of administration had been placed on leave of absence. A public relations firm hired by BPU has confirmed that the official referred to in the release is Conklin.

The utility’s news release also included the following statement from BPU General Manager Don Gray and board President Loretta Colombel: “To protect the integrity of the judicial process involving that litigation, we will make no further comment regarding the district attorney’s filings.”

The Unified Government of Wyandotte County, which owns the utility, issued a statement in which Mayor Joe Reardon calls for a review of the utility’s business practices.