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Housing Authority Describes How Fraud Was Done

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By JOHN W. ALLMAN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 14, 2007

TAMPA - The theft of nearly $126,000 in federal rent subsidies involved more than the manipulation of the Tampa Housing Authority's computer system, housing officials said Thursday.

Passwords and access codes were taken, they said, which allowed the system to be circumvented in order to access vital personal information, to create fake tenant records and to approve friends and family members as bogus landlords.

The security breach was discovered in April 2005 by the authority. Officials said they immediately alerted the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Inspector General.

A federal investigation began shortly after.

This week, 13 people, including three former housing authority employees, were charged with fraud for conspiring to steal from the government - specifically, HUD rent subsidies earmarked for the poorest of the poor seeking assistance through the Housing Choice Voucher program, or Section 8.

"Everybody gets mad today," said Leroy Moore, Tampa housing vice president. "We've been ticked off about this for two and a half years."

The agency has taken steps to ensure such a breach won't happen again, he said.

The authority has revamped its computer system, adding security features mandating that passwords and access codes are regularly changed. Officials now require more oversight for data being added to the system, particularly the creation of landlords.

And they have restricted access to information such as Social Security numbers and dates of birth, which could be used to create false records.

"Through our new computer system, it gives us the ability to better guard, better protect client data and vendor data," Moore said. "Only a handful of people can see the full records on both."

The charges were announced Wednesday by U.S. Attorney Robert E. O'Neill.

Two of the employees - Carlton Miles, 37, and Calvin Coleman, 43 - appeared in U.S. District Court on Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring to steal government funds, theft and public corruption.

If convicted of conspiracy, they face a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The theft and public corruption charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and $250,000 fine.

The third employee, Mario Lovett, 29, has signed a plea agreement saying he will plead guilty to one count of conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, $250,000 fine and up to three years of probation.

Miles played football at the University of Florida in the early 1990s. Coleman is a former Hillsborough County sheriff's corporal.

Also charged Wednesday with conspiracy to steal from the government were 10 friends and family members accused of acting as Section 8 landlords in order to receive, deposit and share $125,862 in rent checks from March 2004 to March 2005.

They are Jeffery Larkins, 41; Joenathan Haile, 39; William Reeves, 25; Mary Barker, 48; Jonathan Denson, 37; Brian Montgomery, 37; Koungnum Brown, 30; Kinta Starling, 29; Jose Oliver, 31; and Adrian Mosley, 29.

Miles and Lovett quit their jobs at the housing authority in October 2004. Coleman was fired for unrelated performance issues in March 2005, Moore said.

All three worked in the agency's Section 8 department monitoring tenant files and setting up monthly payments to HUD-approved landlords.

The authority currently has 5,300 Section 8 vouchers, contracts with 2,700 landlords and has an annual Section 8 budget of $40 million.

The three were low-level employees, Moore said, just above entry-level in the department. They had proper supervision, he said.

At the time, however, the authority's computers did not require passwords and codes to be routinely changed.

The authority also has increased training and asked employees to help identify areas where information might be vulnerable.

Another change, Moore said: Individuals seeking to be HUD landlords must be approved by two people. Previously, one person could make the approval.

Moore said the agency is concerned about how the charges will reflect on the program, despite the authority alerting HUD to the problem and cooperating with investigators.

"We're concerned it may cause very good future landlords to hesitate," he said. "That could hurt our clients."

That is troubling, he said, because the agency has about 9,000 people on a waiting list for Section 8 housing. Often they can wait months, even years, for an apartment or house to become available.

"Any dollar stolen," Moore said, "impacts our ability to serve people."

Reporter John W. Allman can be reached at (813) 259-7915 or jallman@tampatrib.com.

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