Housing Authority former employees, 'landlords' indicted

More than a dozen people involved with the Housing Choice Voucher Program with the Tampa Housing Authority have been indicted on charges they committed conspiracy to steal thousands of dollars from the program.

Three former Housing Authority employees are charged with conspiracy to steal government funds among other charges include Calvin Coleman, Carlton Mills and Mario Lovett.

Ten other people were indicted as "fictitious landlords" including Koungnum Brown, Kinta Starling, William Reeves, Mary Barker, Jose Oliver, Adrian Mosley, Jonathan Denson, Jeffrey Larkings, Jonathan Haile and Brian Montgomery.

Coleman and Mills also were charged with public corruption for stealing from the Housing Authority, which receives millions of dollars in federal funding every year.

Between summer 2004 and mid-2005, Coleman, Miles and Lovett allegedly listed 10 friends and family members as landlords in the authority's database to generate checks authorizing rental subsidy payments to be made to them. The 10 landlords then cashed the checks and shared those proceeds with Coleman, Miles and Lovett, according to interim U.S. Attorney Robert E. O'Neill, totaling more than $100,000.

If convicted, each of the 13 could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Coleman and Miles each face an additional 10 years imprisonment as well as a $250,000 fine.

The case is being investigated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General and will be prosecuted by Cherie L. Krigsman and Thomas Palermo.

The Housing Authority is a part of The Encore, a planned $800 million redevelopment project in the former Central Park neighborhood of Tampa. It recently was named the government category winner for the Tampa Bay Business Journal Business of the Year.

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source: bizjournals.com