Five facing federal charges for allegedly stealing nearly $6M from South Bend Housing Authority

Five people are facing federal charges of conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, bank fraud and wire fraud for allegedly stealing nearly $6M in funds from the South Bend Housing Authority, according to court documents.

The five people are accused of creating fraudulent payment checks for work that was not done, cashing and depositing the checks knowing the work had not been done and giving back a portion of the money to employees of the housing authority, according to the US Attorney's Office.

• Tonya Robinson, the former Executive Director of the housing authority, has been charged with conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, 6 counts of bank fraud, 2 counts of wire fraud, and federal program theft.
• Tyreisha Robinson, a former employee of the housing authority, has been charged with conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, 6 counts of bank fraud, 2 counts of wire fraud, federal program theft and theft of government money.
• Albert Smith, a former employee of the housing authority, has been charged with conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, 6 counts of bank fraud, 2 counts of wire fraud and federal program theft. 
• Archie Robinson III, owner of a business hired by the housing authority to do contracting work, has been charged with conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, 6 counts of bank fraud, and 2 counts of wire fraud.
• Ronald Taylor Jr, owner of a business hired by the housing authority to do contracting work, has been charged with conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, 6 counts of bank fraud, and 2 counts of wire fraud.

Between July 2014 and September 2019, four contracting businesses were hired to do renovation, maintenance, repair, painting, cleaning and other work on units owned by the South Bend Housing Authority.

While some checks to the four contracting businesses were legitimate, many of the checks were for work that was not done, reports said.

Court documents say more than $3 million in checks were issued to Archie Robinson and KTR, more than $1.3 million in checks were issued to Ronald Taylor Jr and A Taylor Made Handy Man, more than $1.2 million in checks were issued to a contractor and business not identified in the court documents.

From October 2017 to March 2019, more than $320,000 in checks were issued to DD and were cashed by Tyreisha or deposited into accounts where Tyreisha had authority, reports said.

Court documents say once the money was deposited, some of the money was then given back to Tonya and Smith.

Tonya is accused of depositing $655,000 in her personal bank account between 2015 and July 2019.

A portion of the money in the South Bend Housing Authority's bank account, which was used to make the fraudulent payments, came from HUD via the US Treasury.

After giving funds to local housing authorities, HUD calculates an average expense per unit per month for each housing authority. The average is then compared to housing authorities of similar size in the state of Indiana. Over the course of 2014 through 2017, the average amount reported by South Bend increased significantly compared to similarly sized housing authorities.

Tonya and Smith are accused of fabricating business records for the contractors, work quotes, invoices and contracts, reports said.

Tonya allegedly incurred a loss of at least $600,000 at local casinos between 2015 and 2018, reports said.

Smith allegedly Smith incurred a net loss of at least $450,000 at local casinos throughout the same time frame, according to the indictment.

In 2017 and 2018, Tyreisha applied for the housing authority's voucher program. In December 2018 she was approved for the voucher program and began receiving government housing benefits. Between 2018 and 2021, Tyreisha received $31,369 in housing benefits she was not entitled to receive, reports said.

The government is seeking restitution from the defendants if they are convicted.