[nfbmi-talk] The Result Needed here in Michigan

Tue Dec 16 20:08:17 UTC 2014

Absent results for the blind of Michigan by BS4BP, the following criminal
result is required for state officials, from the BS4BP administrators, to
the other state officials with the rehabilitation ATM PIN! 

Homestead nonprofit director admits to stealing from disabled, government

Hilda Hall-Denis conviction won't be on her record after guilty plea

Author:

Andrea Torres,

Local10.com Reporter,

atorres at local10.com

Published On: Dec 11 2014 11:24:24 AM EST   Updated On: Dec 11 2014 02:00:15
PM EST

list end

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -

For years, Hilda Hall-Denis took pride in helping a receptionist who is
blind.

But Hall-Denis wasn't helping her. This week she admitted she was using her
to get money from both Miami Dade County and Florida, while not paying her
very

much.  She also admitted to enriching herself with government funding and
grants meant to help struggling not-for-profits.

Hall-Denis also used the identities of people she claimed to be helping to
submit "fraudulent, phony and forged" documents to get grants, prosecutors
said.

She did all this as she bragged about being the executive director of an
organization that was meant to create and nurture small business in South
Miami-Dade.

"Obtaining government funds intended for legitimate non-profit groups and
putting that cash in one's pocket is a terrible crime," Miami-Dade State
Attorney

Katherine Fernandez Rundle

said earlier this year in a statement.

The disabled woman worked at the office she named The Carrie P. Meek Center,
301 Civic Ct., in Homestead. Former Rep. Carrie Meek had nothing to do with

her organization.

Through the center's Business Technology Development Corporation, Hall-Denis
purported to offer business development classes, technical assistance,
mentoring,

reduced-rent office space and more, investigators said.  But she admitted
she was even fooling her employees, as she only payed them a percentage of
what

she was billing.

"Like stealing from a donation jar, it deprives those truly working to aid
our community of the chance to help Dade's neediest residents," Fernandez
Rundle

said. "Stealing from one's own employees and the handicapped only adds
another level to this crime."

An investigation

uncovered her trickery. She wasn't paying vendors and blamed Miami-Dade
County for delays in reimbursements, the investigation concluded. She made
up expenses.

She ran the organization from 2006 to 2012 with local, state and federal
government funding, grants and donations -- although the IRS took away the
nonprofit

status in 2011.

The investigation

concluded she defrauded several institutions including the City of Homestead
Community Redevelopment Agency, State of Florida Division of Blind Services,

Federal Community Development Block Grant, and Miami-Dade County Department
of Public Housing and Community Development.

She was arrested back in July after she was accused of stealing about
$460,000N. The charges: One count of organized scheme to defraud, a first
degree felony;

4 counts of grand theft, first degree felonies; 3 counts of grand theft,
second degree felonies; and 3 counts of criminal use of personal
identification

information, three degree felonies.

On Wednesday, she plead guilty to being involved in an organized scheme to
defraud and to the criminal use of personal identification information. Her
plea

deal: She was ordered to pay $33,000 in restitution and was sentenced to 146
days in jail. Prosecutors also agreed to withhold of adjudication.

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http://www.local10.com/news/homestead-nonprofit-director-admits-to-stealing-
from-disabled-government/30178324