9 charged with defrauding CHA out of more than $1 million
CHICAGO (SUN TIMES MEDIA WIRE) - Nine people have been charged with defrauding the Chicago Housing Authority and other government agencies out of more than $1 million by falsely obtaining benefits to which they were not entitled.
The nine charged are Alette Applewhite, 40; Doris Bell, 66; Helen Davis, 75; Arthur Dorsey Jr., 68; Wanda Goodloe, 41; Tiajuanna Hawthorne, 39; Howard Headd, 78; Ericka Island, 34; and Lorene Loyde, 42, according to a statement from the Chicago Housing Authority. All are from Chicago.
The charges include a variety of schemes, including fraudulently obtaining housing assistance funds from CHA by failing to report income to qualify for housing assistance and getting payments as a landlord in the Housing Choice Voucher program while at the same time securing an HVC that paid part of their rent, according to the statement.
Others allegedly provided false information to the Social Security Administration in order to obtain housing subsidies or support to which they otherwise would not have been entitled.
The charges were filed last week following investigations by the CHA’s Office of the Inspector General in conjunction with a variety of other agencies. The cases will be prosecuted by the Cook County state’s attorney’s Public Corruption/Financial Crimes Unit.
“As an agency that uses taxpayer-supported dollars to provide housing assistance to residents of Chicago, I want to reiterate that CHA will not tolerate any abuse of these resources that support some of our city’s neediest residents,” CHA CEO Eugene Jones Jr. said in the statement.
“I want to remind all of our employees and anyone else who suspects fraud or wrongdoing to contact the CHA OIG hotline,” Jones said.