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Report Fraud, Waste and Abuse
Date Published
September 07, 2015
News Type
Article
Link to Original
Victoria Advocate

(Source: Victoria Advocate) A damning audit showing the Victoria Housing Authority mismanaged more than $780,000 of federal money could result in criminal charges.

"This is not surprising, and I think that is a very conservative number," Criminal District Attorney Stephen Tyler said Friday.

Mayor Paul Polasek added: "I'm very disturbed by these allegations."

The Victoria Housing Authority's former Chief Financial Officer Dolores Garza, current Executive Director Debbie Gillespie and other employees could face charges of engaging in organized criminal activity, falsifying government records, fraud or theft, Tyler said.

The audit was conducted by the Office of Inspector General between Oct. 27, 2014, and May 14. The review covered the period between Jan. 1, 2013 to March 31, 2014.

Although the scope of the audit was narrow and did not include whether the missing federal money affected the maintenance of the housing authority's units, "this is money that should've been available to help tenants, and it's not there," said Gerry Kirkland, regional inspector general for audit.

The OIG found lax policies and little follow-through on what policies the Victoria Housing Authority had on its books, allowing the mismanagement to go undetected...