BOSTON – A Milford woman pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Boston in connection with embezzling over $70,000 in rent payments owed to the Framingham Housing Authority (FHA).    

Rosa A. Famania, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of embezzling money from an agency receiving federal funds.  U.S. District Court Chief Judge Patti B. Saris scheduled sentencing for March 14, 2017.

In February 2010, Famania began working for FHA as an accounting assistant. She resigned from her position in August 2015, shortly after FHA suspended her in connection with an internal investigation into missing rent payments.  Famania’s responsibilities at the FHA included collecting cash rent payments from FHA tenants; recording these cash payments in the FHA electronic accounting system; securing these cash payments in a locked cash box; and depositing the cash payments into an FHA bank account.

Between February 2014 and August 2015, Famania stole approximately 181 cash rental payments totaling $70,649 from FHA and utilized an FHA accounting software program to assist in disguising the theft.  When Famania came into possession of the rent payments, she did not deposit the payments into the FHA bank account.  Instead, she kept the cash rent payments and adjusted the tenants’ balance downward utilizing the accounting software.  Approximately $55,100 in cash was deposited into an account maintained by Famania between July 2014 and July 2015.  From February 2014 to July 2014, nineteen U.S. Postal Service money orders totaling $17,900 were deposited into another bank account maintained by Famania...