[nfbmi-talk] closing the books on our one stop

[joe harcz Comcast]

Note: MRS and BSBP supposedly cooperate under the workforce Investment Act with these one stops.

They still aren't fully accessible to the blind and other PWD.

Joe
Gary Ridley | gridley at mlive.com . 

FLINT, MI – 

A scandal that took down the head of a public agency, a Flint police chief and his father, as well as a former

Flint School Board member has come to end with more than $500,000 in taxpayer money misused and not a single day of jail for anyone involved. Pamela Loving,

the former head of Career Alliance who a federal judge called the leader of the "criminal episode," was ordered to pay back more than a half-million dollars

after she admitted to embezzling tax-payer money and funding a program led by a relative without approval of the federal government. U.S. District Judge

Mark A. Goldsmith, however, spared Loving from more than a year in prison and instead placed her on five years' probation with a year of house arrest.

Loving, who is unemployed and has filed for bankruptcy, was also ordered to pay $586,000 in restitution. The fact that Loving and the other three people

convicted in the Career Alliance case were not given any jail time upset Genesee County Commission Chairman Jamie Curtis. "What kind of message do you

send to the county for committing crimes like that? Curtis said. "If you can put them in jail then they should be in jail. Josh Hauxhurst, head of the

Federal Bureau of Investigation's Flint office, said while he is happy that there were convictions in the case he would have liked to see stiffer sentences

handed down. Goldsmith declined to comment on the Career Alliance case. Loving's sentence closes the book on the FBI's investigation into the misuse of

federal government workforce development funds and the agency. County, state and federal investigators reported chronic mismanagement and improper spending

at Career Alliance -- now known as Genesee/Shiawassee Michigan Works -- 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. Loving 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 only $13,000 of the

misappropriated funds went directly to Loving and that jail time wasn't appropriate, particularly in light of her decades of service to residents of Flint.

"The sentence was absolutely just," Morgan said. "The lady spent 20 years working in that community. 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. Helen Williams, a former Flint school board member and Loving's

cousin, was sentenced to pay more than $240,000 in restitution and placed on two years of probation, while QB Pittman, Career Alliance's former chief financial

officer, was sentenced Oct. 24 to one year probation and ordered to pay more than $91,000 in restitution after Williams and Pittman pleaded guilty in the

case. 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. Pittman admitted to knowingly authorizing the fraudulent expenses.

He was convicted of a misdemeanor and was sentenced by a magistrate judge. His attorney, Trachelle Young, said she felt his sentence was fair and noted

that he was convicted of a misdemeanor and not a felony. She added that he did not benefit financially from the embezzlement. Williams' attorney, Kenneth

Scott, could not be reached for comment. The U.S. Attorney's office, which prosecuted the cases, agreed not to object to probationary sentences being handed

down to Williams and Loving despite federal sentencing guidelines calling for 10-16 months in prison. Officials with the U.S. Attorney's office could not

be reached for comment. The convictions of Loving, Williams and Pittman came more than three years after Flint police Chief David Dicks was sentenced to

six months of home confinement after he was accused to taking nearly $47,000 from a security company while he was serving as a police officer or was taking

classes at Mott Community College. Dicks' plea agreement included a sentencing guideline of 6-12 months. Dicks' father, Richard Dicks, ran the security

company that contracted its services to Career Alliance. Federal charges against Richard Dicks were dismissed after he entered a federal diversion program

where he agreed to stay out of trouble for 18 months. Charles Palmer, a professor at Lansing-based Cooley Law School and former criminal defense attorney,

said he wasn't surprised to see that prison time wasn't handed down in any of the cases. Palmer said that the people charged in the case were non-violent

and had no prior felony criminal histories. During Loving's sentencing hearing, Goldsmith said that the crime Loving committed was serious and that the

law she broke needed to be "respected and vindicated. Palmer said he feels the judge's sentence accomplished that goal. "What's happened to these people

is quite a deterrent," Palmer said. "Don't minimize what happened to these people. Palmer said these types of sentences have a big impact when defendants

have professional careers. He said the convictions will prevent them from holding many jobs, particularly those that involve public trust or handling money.

Flint attorney Frank J. Manley, who represented David Dicks, said the conviction has changed his client's life. Manley said Dicks moved out of state and

went back to college in order to start a new career. "Certainly it had an impact on David's career," Manley said. "He's a prisoner of his actions for the

rest of his life. The investigation could also bring changes to how the county manages the Michigan Works agency. Curtis, who is the chief elected official

on the multi-jurisdictional board overseeing the agency, said he wants the county to explore implementing its own career services programs rather than

relying on Michigan Works. Currently, Curtis said Genesee County taxpayers could be on the hook to pay restitution to the state or federal authorities

if there is misspending since the county serves as the fiduciary for the agency. However, the state agency that oversees the Michigan Works program said

the state has precautions in place to catch and prevent fraud. Mike Wurmlinger, director of the state Office of Audit and Financial Compliance for the

Workforce Development Agency, said the state has 25 local workforce development boards that are reviewed annually. There is also on-site monitoring at

the Michigan Works offices. Any possible illegal expenditure is reported to the federal Office of the Inspector General, according to Wurmlinger. "It was

the processes utilized by the Workforce Development Agency that uncovered the situation at Career Alliance," said Christine Quinn, Michigan Workforce Development

Agency director. "WDA notified the appropriate federal authorities, who then initiated an investigation and subsequent prosecution of the responsible parties.

WDA continues to conduct reviews at all Michigan Works agencies across the state to ensure funding is spent and programs are administered in accordance

with state and federal regulations. Representatives of state Senator Jim Ananich, D-Flint, said state lawmakers should remain diligent in preventing this

type of fraud in the future. "Senator Ananich is committed to protecting every dime of taxpayers' hard earned dollars from fraud, waste, or abuse," said

Ananich's spokesperson Tom Lenard. "If there are ways for more oversight and accountability on the front end of the process to make sure these funds are

going where they are supposed to, the Legislature should find bipartisan measures and enact them. Job creation is so critical to addressing the many challenges

we face that we can't afford to lose any tools to help people get the skills they need to secure good-paying jobs. Craig Coney, the current president and

CEO of Genesee/Shiawassee Michigan Works, and attorney Peter Goodstein, who represents the local Michigan Works office, could not be reached for comment.