(Source: USAO MA) BOSTON – A former maintenance technician for Roxse Homes, a subsidized housing development in Boston, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Boston for his role in a scheme to rent apartments at the housing development to individuals who were not qualified, in exchange for cash bribes.

Ismael Morales, 36, of Jamaica Plain, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Patti B. Saris to two years in prison and two years of supervised release.  In May 2016, Morales pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and seven counts of corrupt receipt of payments by a federally funded organization.  His co-defendant, Mathis Lemons, 42, of Brockton, also pleaded guilty to the same charges and is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 20, 2016. 

Lemons was the assistant property manager and Morales worked as a maintenance technician for Roxse Homes, a subsidized housing development on Tremont Street in Roxbury.  At Roxse Homes, eligible low-income families and individuals can obtain rental housing for a subsidized rate with Section 8 housing benefits from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.  In 2014, there was a shortage of federally subsidized Section 8 housing in Massachusetts, and Roxse Homes maintained a long waitlist of applicants desiring apartments in the complex.  The Roxse Homes waitlist had been closed to external applicants since 2009...