BOSTON – The former assistant property manager of 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.

Mathis Lemons, 42, of Brockton, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Patti B. Saris to two years in prison, one year of supervised release and ordered to pay forfeiture of $18,300.  In May 2016, Lemons pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and seven counts each of corrupt receipt of payments by a federally funded organization.  His co-defendant, Ismael Morales, pleaded guilty to the same charges and was sentenced in August 2016 to two years in prison.

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...