Frank Keough not the only crook in the shelter system

Former homeless shelter Francis Keough III was ordered back to prison this month for breaking into a house he used to own to steal furniture no longer his.  He'd just finished serving two years in federal prison for conspiracy, extortion, mail fraud, witness tampering and perjury charges, but apparently was willing to risk even more prison time while on parole to retrieve a kitchenette set.  Talk about not being able to see the forest for the trees!  This is the same Keough who, when running the Friends of the Homeless shelter, reimbursed himself $165 for a pair of shoes he'd ruined while exploring the flood in the shelter's basement where homeless people stayed.

Keough is not alone, of course, in treating the homeless as his personal cash cows.

Earlier this week the former executive assistant of a youth crisis shelter in Los Alamito, California was sentenced to four years in prison for embezzling nearly half a million from the shelter and spending it on remodeling her home, going on vacation, and buying lots of new clothes.  LA Times.

Two years ago, a shelter director and the CEO of  City of Angels Medical Center in Los Angeles were indicted (and have since pled guilty) to a $1 million fraud scheme where they offered to pay homeless people to pretend they had received medical treatment at the hospital.

While personal gain does seem to be the primary motive for shelter fraud, one Detroit shelter director and his bookkeeper had "higher" motives: they funneled $750,000 of the shelter's money into a shell company that then contributed to Democratic Party candidates and causes. Debbie Schlussel.

Lest I give the impression that only shelter directors are crooks,  when Keough went down, after a U.S. Justice Department investigation began in 2004, so did the head of the Springfield Housing Authority Ray Asselin and nearly his entire family including his son, a former state representative, Carol Aranjo and her husband and son for stealing from (and destroying) the Edward G. Wells Credit Union, former Police Commission Chairman and head of the Mass. Career Development Center Gerald Phillips for fraud, and former Albano mayoral aide Anthony Aldolino and his brother Chet, a former police officer, for fraud and filing false income tax returns.

I bring this up today only so we can remind ourselves that no one in a position of public trust deserves to go unexamined.


Photo from 10b travelling's photostream at Flickr.

Late March round-up of news from the homeless blogs

First from the straight news: The Muskogen Chronicle, Michigan, reported last week on the death of 48 year old Lonnie Gordon, a homeless man who died of hypothermia in a February stowstorm. Mr. Gordon was made to leave the Rescue Mission, where he'd been staying for several days, because he had been drinking on premises.
"We don't want to point fingers or make anyone take the blame (for Gordon's death). We just want to know why," said Judith Kell, who chairs the Continuum of Care Network. "What went wrong? How'd he fall through the cracks?"
Wait a minute-- he didn't fall through the cracks, he was pushed!
"We don't turn anyone away, and that is so important, especially in bad weather when so many (homeless people) have nowhere else to turn," Skoglund (director of Rescue Mission) said. "We exist to demonstrate and proclaim God's love to the less fortunate and homeless people of West Michigan, but there are certain rules people in the shelters have to follow for everyone's safety. We don't allow chaos. We can't allow chaos."
Heavens, No! Death before chaos! This could so easily happen in Springfield, MA-- if it hasn't already.

At Just Another Blog from L.A., M. Bouffant comments on Helen and Olga, currently on trial for murdering homeless men for the insurance they took out on them. In Nashville, Kevin Barbieux at The Homeless Guy reports on the death of a homeless woman hit by a pick-up truck.

Oldtimer Speaks Out reports on the bureaucratic snafu that almost prevented his friend Al, who'd been living in the woods for some time, from accessing transitional housing through the VA. WanderingVets comments on the people of Guerneville, CA, good patriots all, who are organizing in opposition to the construction of a Home for War Veterans. they might be dangerous!

On the organizing front, Tim Harris at Apesma's Lament says the city of Tacoma, Washington's failure to make progress on it's ten year plan to end homelessness is finally getting some media attention. Humanity for Homeless in Santa Cruz CA says the city has issued its first citation for violating the Parking Lots and Garages Trespass Law MC 9.64, which became law to prevent homeles people from using parking lots and whose enforcement has already reached ridiculous proportions-- folks were cited and dispersed for showing a silent move against the wall of a building in a non-residential district. There's a lot of information on this blog about the people's struggles. The Anti-Poverty blog in Chicago has a great analysis of the truly creepy Oprah's Big Give.

Last but not least, stop by Homeless Man Speaks for the real words of real people without a home.

Photo: Our Friend Al from Oldtimer Speaks Out.