HONOLULU – A federal jury today found Chun Mei Tong, also known as Mei Tong, 43, of Honolulu, guilty of five counts of wire fraud and three counts of aggravated identity theft for her scheme to use an alias and forge signatures to rent out properties under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ("HUD") Housing Choice Voucher Program (also known as the "Section 8 Program") while she was also a HUD employee involved in overseeing the…

BOSTON – A Dominican national was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for false representation of a Social Security number and theft of public money.      Noemi Mejia, 51, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to one year and one day in prison, two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $164,987 in restitution. Mejia will be subject to deportation upon completion of her sentence. In…

NEWARK, N.J. – A former candidate for the Hoboken City Council was convicted today of conspiring to promote a voter bribery scheme by use of the mail, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.  Francis Raia, 67, of Hoboken, New Jersey, was a candidate for Hoboken City Council in 2013. He was convicted of one count of conspiracy to violate the federal Travel Act for causing the mails to be used in aid of voter bribery, contrary to New Jersey…

A former Stuart Housing Authority employee pled guilty today to stealing government funds from the federal Housing Choice Voucher Program. Ariana Fajardo Orshan, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Nadine Gurley, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General (HUD-OIG), made the announcement. Cynthia Cabrera, 49, of Port St. Lucie, Florida, pled guilty today to one…

(Source: Geneseesun.com) ROCHESTER – Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Adam C. McFadden pleaded guilty to wire fraud and filing a false tax return before U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard A. Resnick, who is handling the case, stated that McFadden was a member of the Rochester City Council, while co-…

A federal jury in Central Islip returned a guilty verdict today against Cornell Bozier, the former Chairman of the Board of Commissioners at the Village of Hempstead Housing Authority (VHHA) on four counts of an indictment charging him with conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and federal program bribery.  The verdict followed a two-week trial before United States District Judge Joan M. Azrack.  When sentenced, Bozier faces…

(Source: www.wcpo.com CINCINNATI — Federal agents arrested a registered sex offender who's accused of forging court documents and judges' signatures in an effort to obtain housing vouchers. Gary Wipperman, 57, is required to register his residence to authorities every 90 days after being convicted of gross sexual imposition and felonious sexual penetration involving a 9-year-old victim in Greene County in 1993. U. S. Department of Housing and…

Four individuals were charged in an eight-count indictment, unsealed today, which alleges federal program fraud, money laundering and perjury, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider. Schneider was joined in the announcement by Brad Geary, Special Agent in Charge of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General and Special Agent in Charge Timothy R. Slater, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Detroit Division…

A Euclid woman was sentenced to more than nine years in prison for a scheme in which she fraudulently enrolled students into Ohio community colleges to defraud the U.S. Department of Education out of $1.8 million. Basheera Perry, 45, was sentenced to 114 months in prison and ordered to pay nearly $1.9 million in restitution. She previously pleaded guilty to numerous charges, including conspiracy, wire and mail fraud and aggravated identity…

(Source: www.tristatehomepage.com) On Monday, United States Attorney Josh J. Minkler announced that the former Echo Housing Corporation Executive Director Stephanie Tenbarge was indicted on three counts of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds. Tenbarge, 71, was arrested Monday and will appear before a federal magistrate judge for her initial appearance. Click here to read the indictment. Tenbarge was accused in 2018 of misusing…

Evansville –United States Attorney Josh J. Minkler announced today that an Evansville, Indiana woman who worked as the Executive Director at Echo Housing Corporation, was indicted on three counts of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds. Stephanie L. TenBarge, 71, Evansville, was arrested today and will appear before a federal magistrate judge for her initial appearance. Echo Housing Corporation is a non-profit organization based in…

Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York (“SDNY”), Ben Carson, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”), and Andrew Wheeler, Acting Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), announced today the signing of an administrative agreement (“Agreement”) with the NEW YORK CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY (“NYCHA”) and the CITY OF NEW YORK (the “City”) requiring…

(Source: brownsvilleherald.com) A man admitted to defrauding the Brownsville Housing Authority Tuesday afternoon by concealing income he earned through selling firearms, gun kits and ammunition, court documents and hearings revealed. Gilberto Usdel Tello pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Rolando Olvera to lying to a special agent with the Department of Housing and Urban Development-Office of the Inspector General, or HUD-OIG, by…

(Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser) A former U.S. Housing and Urban Development employee accused of collecting Section 8 rental assistance on properties she and her husband managed and controlled pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court Wednesday to five counts of wire fraud. Chun Mei Tong, 42, a former HUD financial analyst, also pleaded not guilty to three counts of aggravated identity theft. She was accused of signing Section 8 owner…

(SOURCE: Cleveland19.com) CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) - A major new development surfaced Wednesday in a lucrative Facebook scam first exposed by a Cleveland 19 undercover investigation in June 2017. A Cuyahoga County grand jury has indicted Zienup Sbeih-Maddox, 24, of Cleveland; Kirsten Laurie, 26, of Cleveland; and Kimberly St. John-Stevenson, 54, of Cleveland Heights, in connection with the social media scam, which investigators say defrauded…

CHICAGO — A federal grand jury in Chicago has indicted a businessman on tax evasion charges for allegedly scheming to evade personal income taxes for three years. As the owner of the security firm World Security Bureau, ABRAHAM KISWANI, also known as “Ibriham Kiswani,” willfully failed to pay the full amount of taxes on his personal income for the calendar years 2010, 2012, and 2013, according to an indictment returned in U.S. District Court in…

(SOURCE: KSTP.com) A source told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS the Office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Inspector General is now investigating the theft of $270,000 from the Dakota County Community Development Agency. KSTP first reported in August that 39-year-old CDA employee, Yanglee Yang, had been fired in connection with the missing money. Yang was subsequently charged with five counts of theft in early November…

United States Attorney Erica H. MacDonald today announced a federal indictment charging ROBERT ANTHONY COLEMAN, 45, and YOLANDA YVETTE COLEMAN aka YOLANDA YVETTE PITTMAN, 50, with multiple counts related to the theft of more than $248,000 of government funds. ROBERT COLEMAN is also charged with two counts of false statements and an additional count of Social Security fraud. They will make their initial appearances in U.S. District Court at a…

NEWARK, N.J. – A former candidate for the Hoboken City Council and a campaign worker were charged today by a federal grand jury with conspiracy to promote a voter bribery scheme by use of the mail, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced. Francis Raia, 67, of Hoboken, New Jersey, was a candidate for city council in 2013. Dio Braxton, 43, of Hoboken, worked for Raia’s campaign. A federal grand jury charged them today with conspiracy to violate…

A man who is alleged to have kidnapped his 21-month old son in Canada in 1987 was arrested this morning in Vernon, Connecticut. U.S. Attorney John H. Durham, U.S. Marshal Brian J. Taylor, and Special Agent in Charge Christina D. Scaringi of the Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, made the announcement. According to court documents and statements made in court, it is alleged that ALLAN MANN, JR., 66,…