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Former Career Alliance head spared prison time in embezzlement case

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Gary Ridley | gridley at mlive.com

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Gary Ridley | gridley at mlive.com

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on December 03, 2013 at 5:05 PM, updated December 04, 2013 at 6:33 AM

 

Loving,Pamela.JPGPamela LovingMLive.com file photo

 

FLINT, MI -- A federal judge spared prison time for the former head of Career Alliance after she pleaded guilty to embezzling federal funds from the career

service agency.

 

Pamela Loving was ordered Tuesday, Dec. 3, to pay more than $586,000 in restitution and serve five years of probation -- including one year of house arrest

-- by Flint U.S. District Judge Mark A. Goldsmith.

 

Loving, 70, pleaded guilty in June to embezzling federal funds from the career services agency. Loving, the former president and chief executive officer

of Career Alliance, now known as Genesee/Shiawassee Michigan Works, admitted to taking roughly $77,000 from the organization for her personal benefit and

to pay for training sessions for people who did not work for Career Alliance.

 

However, federal authorities claimed that Loving inappropriately distributed funding to programs not authorized by the Department of Labor, forcing Career

Alliance to repay more than $500,000 to the state.

 

Loving's attorney, Richard Morgan, said that his client is currently going through a bankruptcy and is unemployed. He declined to elaborate on how Loving

planned to pay back the restitution.

 

"She's going to pay what the court ordered her to pay," Morgan said.

 

Morgan argued during the hearing that Loving

should be spared prison time

because only roughly $13,000 was used for Loving's personal benefit. However, Goldsmith said Loving also benefited by using her position with Career Alliance

to advance socially in the Flint community.

 

"There was a significant amount of funding that ended up benefiting (Loving) either in a monetary way or a non-monetary way," Goldsmith said.

 

Goldsmith declined to sentence Loving to prison, despite sentencing guidelines that called for 10-16 months of incarceration. However, Goldsmith said his

sentence sends a strong signal that this type of crime would not be tolerated by the court.

 

"The offense was a serious one and the law that she violated does need to be respected and vindicated," Goldsmith said.

 

The federal statute Loving pleaded guilty to violating allowed for a maximum of two years in prison.

 

Goldsmith also declined to force Loving to pay restitution for a judgment she received after suing the agency despite a letter from current Genesee/Shiawassee

Michigan Works CEO Craig Coney asking for the funds.

 

Flint Journal records show Loving was placed on unpaid administrative leave from her position at Career Alliance in 2007 and never returned. She won a

$154,000 judgment

in 2008 against Career Alliance because she claimed her contract had been effectively terminated.

 

Goldsmith said he would not allow the restitution because he did not believe the judgment was attributed to her criminal conduct.

 

Morgan argued that attorney's for Career Alliance had the chance to challenge the payment to his client and that it would be inappropriate now for the judge

to order Loving to pay back the judgment.

 

"Hindsight is always 20/20," Morgan said of the lawsuit, adding that his client has already spent all of the money.

 

County, state and federal

investigators

reported chronic mismanagement and improper spending at Career Alliance after a series of Flint Journal stories in 2007 detailed problems at the organization.

 

Career Alliance serves as a job-training agency for Genesee and Shiawassee counties as well as the city of Flint and is responsible for millions of dollars

for employment programs.

 

Last month, former Flint school board member, Helen Williams was sentenced to two years probation after she pleaded guilty to embezzling funds from Career

Alliance.

 

Williams served as executive director of Flint Family Road, an organization started with the goal of reducing infant deaths by better preparing parents

to be mothers and fathers, according to Flint Journal files.

 

She admitted in court to falsifying invoices to get money from Career Alliance contractors for services she never provided. Williams admitted in court to

embezzling more than $88,000.

 

Williams served on the Flint school board for seven years, before resigning in 2001.

 

In a 2008 letter questioning spending at Career Alliance, the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth said it had been informed Helen Williams

was a cousin of Loving and that Family Road was given rent-free space in Career Alliance's Ruether Center.

 

Williams was sentenced Oct. 17 by Flint U.S. District Judge Mark A. Goldsmith to also pay more than $240,000 in restitution.

 

QB Pittman, Career Alliance's former chief Financial officer,

was sentenced

Oct. 24 in U.S. District Court to one year probation ordered to pay $91,321.46 in restitution after Pittman pleaded guilty to misapplication of Workforce

Investment Act funding.

 

Pittman said in court that he did not directly benefit from the money taken, but also admitted he did nothing to stop it.

 

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