[nfbmi-talk] Fw: the scandel that keeps on taking

[Terry D. Eagle]

Now, if only we could get a media outlet source with integrity to do
investigative journalism to uncover and expose the corruption, stealing and
theft of services funds and jobs by the self-serving and self-taking crooks
at the Michigan Bureau of Services for the Blind (BS4BP)!  Likewise,
criminal investigations by FEDERAL and STATE officials who are taxpayer paid
to monitor, investigate, and prosecute the corrupt thieves of services and
jobs for blind persons in Michigan.  Unfortunately, the fedral RSA officials
only want complaints from the state agency officials and blind persons, such
as the EOC, to turn themselves in for stealing services and jobs from the
blind citizens.  In other words, the blind are stealing the blind citizens
blind, and the blind officials cannot, or will not, or don't want to  see
and hear the blind are being stolen blind along with taxpayers!

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbmi-talk [mailto:nfbmi-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of David
Robinson via nfbmi-talk
Sent: Friday, August 21, 2015 12:37 PM
To: NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: David Robinson <drob1946 at gmail.com>
Subject: [nfbmi-talk] Fw: the scandel that keeps on taking


----- Original Message ----- 
From: joe harcz Comcast 
To: eleanor canter 
Cc: Darma Canter ; David Robinson NFB MI ; terry Eagle ; Mark Eagle ; Laura
Hall ; Sarah Gravetti MISILC DNM ; Rodney Craig MISILC ; Timothy Beatty RSA
; BRIAN SABOURIN ; Elmer Cerano MPAS ; MARK MCWILLIAMS MPAS 
Sent: Friday, August 21, 2015 11:13 AM
Subject: the scandel that keeps on taking


And who was the Chair of Career Alliance during the period of time these and
other illegal activities were going on? And who in the public record as
Chair made Pamela Loving the highest paid executive in Michigan for these
job programs? Well none other than J. Michael Zelley, the Executive Director
of The Disability Network, the Center for Independent Living in Flint,
Michigan.

 

Joe Harcz

 

 

Career Alliance The Scandel That Keeps on Taking

(My headline. JH)

 

Gary Ridley | gridley at mlive.com . FLINT, MI -- The head of a public
job-training agency convicted of embezzling more than $500,000 has been
released from

probation, but records show taxpayers are more than a century away from
being repaid for her theft. Pamela Loving, the former head of Career
Alliance,

which is now known as Genesee/Shiawassee Michigan Works, was discharged from
probation Wednesday, Aug. 19, following her 2013 conviction for embezzling

federal workforce development funds from the agency she oversaw. Loving was
70 when she was sentenced to five years of probation in December 2013. She

was discharged less than two years later after federal authorities said she
"complied with the rules and regulations of probation and is no longer in
need

of supervision," according to court records. Flint U.S. District Judge Mark
A. Goldsmith also ordered Loving to pay more than $587,000 in restitution as

part of her sentence. Federal court records filed last month show Loving
paid less than $9,000, or roughly $100 per week, toward the restitution
since

her sentencing. At the current repayment rate, it would take Loving nearly
110 more years to repay all of the money she embezzled. At this rate, she
would

need to live roughly 50 years longer than the Guinness World Record's oldest
person ever. Loving and her attorney, Richard Morgan, could not be reached

for comment on the case or restitution payments. Loving's co-defendant, QB
Pittman, who was Career Alliance's former chief financial officer, was also

ordered to pay more than $91,000 in restitution for his role in the thefts.
He has made similarly slow progress in repaying his debt. Pittman, who
claims

he did not directly benefit from the stolen funds but did nothing to stop
the thefts, has paid less than $1,000 since his sentencing, according to
court

records filed in May. At the current rate of repayment, it would take
Pittman more than 150 years to meet his financial burden. However, Pittman
said federal

authorities ordered him to pay $50 per month as part of a repayment plan and
he has made his payments each month since the sentencing. Federal court
officials

and prosecutors refused to disclose the terms of the restitution payments by
claiming the information was not public, but writs of garnishment filed
against

Loving and Pittman in Flint U.S. District Court revealed how much the pair
has paid and how much they still owe. The writs, six in total, were filed
from

May through July by the U.S. Attorney's Office, and seek to garnish payments
expected to be made to the pair, including more than $1,500 in unpaid
employer

pension contributions owed to them by the former Career Alliance. "The U.S.
Attorney's Office uses all available legal tools, such as garnishment of
wages,

to recover stolen funds for taxpayers," said U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade.
"Wrongdoers should not profit from their criminal conduct, especially in
cases

like this one where defendants betrayed the public trust and stole taxpayer
funds intended to promote employment and job training. Pittman said the
writs

would likely force him to hand over to the government any money he receives.
"If I get a big income tax check, they'll get that," Pittman said. Mark
Dotson,

a law professor with Western Michigan University Cooley Law School, said the
government could attempt to secure any remaining restitution from the
defendants

upon their death, but they would have to line up along side any other
creditors seeking payment. A third person, former Flint school board member
Helen

Williams, was also ordered to pay more than $240,000 in restitution and
placed on two years of probation for her role in the thefts. Court records
do not

show how much Williams has paid on her case and federal authorities refused
to disclose the terms of her repayment, claiming the information was not
public.

Freedom of Information Act requests by the Flint Journal to
Genesee/Shiawassee County Michigan Works show the agency has received nearly
$5,500 in restitution

checks from the U.S. Department of Treasury for Loving, Pittman and
Williams' cases. Williams was discharged from probation in July. Her
attorney, Ken

Scott, could not be reached for comment on her case. The government has not
filed any garnishment writs for her restitution. Of the four people
convicted

in connection to the case, only former Flint Police Chief David Dicks has
fulfilled his restitution order, according to information obtained through
the

Flint Journal's FOIA request. Dicks made a lump-sum payment of $46,553 on
May 21, 2010, according to information obtained through the FOIA request.
"It

shows a very strong effort on his part to redeem himself and make a bad
situation better," Dicks' attorney, Frank J. Manley, said of the payment.
County,

state and federal investigators reported chronic mismanagement and improper
spending at the former Career Alliance after a series of Flint Journal
stories

in 2007 detailed problems at the organization. Career Alliance served as a
job-training agency for Genesee and Shiawassee counties as well as the city

of Flint and was responsible for millions of dollars for employment
programs. Craig Coney, CEO of Genesee/Shiawassee Michigan Works, could not
be reached

for comment. 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.
Williams, who is Loving's cousin, 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. The convictions of Loving, Williams and Pittman came more
than three years after Dicks was sentenced to six months of home confinement

after he was accused of taking nearly $47,000 from a security company for
services he allegedly provided at the same time he was serving as a police
officer

or was taking classes at Mott Community College. 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 in which he agreed to stay out of trouble for 18
months.

Federal prosecutors alleged money sent to the agency to help the unemployed
was paid to David Dicks through a series of fraudulent billings. None of
those

convicted were sentenced to jail time.

 

Flint Journal

August 21, 2015
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