Quotes, invoices and checks, trial underway in housing authority embezzlement

 

ORIGINAL STORY:

SOUTH BEND, Ind.-- Seven witnesses appeared in court Tuesday as the federal government makes their case against former South Bend Housing Authority (SBHA) employees for allegedly stealing millions from the organization.

The three defendants are Tonya Robinson, Albert Smith and Doug Donley.

First on the stand was FBI Agent Paul Allen, who investigated SBHA. His testimony focused on shoddy paperwork.

For example, invoices for contracted maintenance work were dated the same day as the quote for that work. Contracts were also signed after invoices were signed and checks were cut.

Of course, this is unusual, since contracted work starts with a quote, then a contract is signed, then the work gets completed, then there is an invoice, and the contractor is paid.

Additionally, there was a tragedy of typos, with misspellings, and multiple invoices with identical language.

Another witness Tuesday was Catherine Lamberg, the former executive director of SBHA, who replaced Tonya Robinson's after her arrest.

"They asked me a lot of questions to get an understanding of the operations of the housing authority, so getting that understanding is appreciated,” Lamberg said. “My greatest hope is that they understand that this issue is not related to the South Bend Housing Authority, it's just related to some bad actors that used to work there."

Based on Lamberg's testimony, the executive director is ultimately responsible for all federal money going from the housing authority to contractors, essentially implicating Robinson.

But at the end of the day, Lamberg said the ultimate victim is the housing authority.

"So, it wasn't the housing authority that caused the activities that are being questioned here today,” she said. “So, the housing authority still has a mission, a purpose, and a goal, and it still has to carry out that activity and can do a very great job for this community in providing affordable housing."

The defense lawyers continually tried to deflect responsibility off their clients.

Other witnesses on the stand Tuesday included FBI Analyst, Heather Teagarden, and the lead IRS agent in the SBHA investigation, Catherine O’Connor.

The trial is on schedule. Housing authority tenants are scheduled to take the stand Wednesday, to determine whether contracted work was in fact done in their units.

Click here for more of our coverage of the case.