Bankrupt Banker: Miami-Dade

The dream robbers

Eleven government employees and a local landlord were indicted Wednesday on charges they scammed a federal housing assistance program in Miami-Dade County out of tens of thousands of dollars. All of the government employees reported that they earned little or nothing when, in fact, they were drawing government salaries. ''The people indicted pretended to be needy, pretended to be poor . . . thereby they kept the needy from getting the help they deserved,'' said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle in announcing the indictments. ''They are dream robbers,'' she said. All 12 defendants were charged with fraud and theft from the federal Section 8 program, which gives out vouchers to help low-income residents pay their rent. The government employees included two Miami-Dade elementary school teachers, a Broward high school counselor, a Miami-Dade parks employee, a Miami-Dade Transit Agency driver, a former Department of Children & Families employee, and two state corrections officers. Some earned as much as $50,000 a year while they were receiving vouchers. Meanwhile, 35,000 people were on a waiting list to get housing assistance. according to the indictment:ome of the defendants lied on their applications for rental assistance checks, showing less income so they would qualify for the program. Others submitted accurate applications, but then failed to report when they got new jobs and lied during their annual recertification process. Two of the government employees also committed additional scams by buying homes and then continuing to draw rental assistance from the Section 8 program. Among the most egregious examples was Debbie Page, say prosecutors. She bought a house with the help of Habitat for Humanity, a national charity that helps people buy their own homes by letting them pay a portion through ''sweat equity,'' actually working on the homes. Habitat then sells the homes at cost and gives the new homeowners zero percent loans. Page, a Broward schools employee, bought the Habitat home on NW 77th Street in August 2005 and moved into it, but continued to draw Section 8 vouchers for the residence she was supposedly renting. Fernández Rundle called her case ''shameful and heartbreaking'' because Habitat is a charity. Anne Manning, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Miami, was appalled at Page's alleged actions. ''It's terribly disappointing that someone has received something out of the goodwill of the people and would do this,'' said Manning, who said she and her staff will look into ways to avoid similar problems in the future. ''If someone has a Section 8 voucher and is buying a house, do we need to notify the Section 8 office here,'' she asked. ``That's what didn't happen. We'll have to go talk to them about how we do that.'' Another woman, Catrina Brown, an employee at Jackson Memorial Hospital, bought a house with assistance from the Metro Miami Action Plan, a county anti-poverty program. After buying her own home, she continued to receive a Section 8 voucher for rental assistance. She sublet the home that Section 8 was helping her pay for, collecting money from the new tenant. The landlord who was indicted, Armando Valdes, charged Section 8 recipients more than he had agreed to. He also filed papers claiming a homestead exemption for one of the homes he was renting, illegally lowering his property taxes.

The dream robbers

Eleven government employees and a local landlord were indicted Wednesday on charges they scammed a federal housing assistance program in Mia...

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