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2nd Ex-Tampa Official Gets Prison In Housing Authority Rent Scam

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 5, 2008

Updated: 06/05/2008 08:38 pm

TAMPA - A former Tampa Housing Authority official was sentenced this morning to two years in federal prison for his role in a scheme to steal more than $140,000 in federal rent subsidies.

Carlton Miles, 38, also was ordered to serve three years of probation after he gets out of prison and to pay restitution along with four people he recruited to be phony landlords.

Before he was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Susan Bucklew, Miles apologized to the court and to his family.

Miles is the second housing authority official to be sentenced. Mario Lovett was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Another official, Calvin Coleman, has yet to be sentenced but has pleaded guilty.

All three men and more than a dozen phony landlords are said to be responsible for a total of more than $500,000 in losses.

Sixteen people have entered guilty pleas. One person entered pretrial diversion so he could serve in Iraq with the Army, and one person has yet to resolve her case.

Phony landlords who have been sentenced have received penalties ranging from probation to six months in federal prison.

Prosecutors said Miles, Lovett and Coleman recruited people to act as landlords, although the three never owned the rental properties or had leases with tenants approved by the housing authority.

Miles, Lovett and Coleman then allowed fraudulent subsidy checks to be issued to these fake landlords, who then cashed them and paid a kickback to the counselors, prosecutors said.

Miles was employed as a counselor for the housing authority from May 2003 to October 2004. The housing authority receives hundreds of thousands of dollars each year from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to subsidize housing for low-income families, the elderly and the disabled.

Reporter Ray Reyes contributed to this report. Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837 or esilvestrini@tampatrib.com.

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