Two more former housing employees plead guilty in alleged bonus scheme

Former Morgan City Housing Authority Accounting Tech Diana Pace and former Housing Manager Sandra Greene have pleaded guilty to charges relating to alleged improper bonuses they received over a several-year period.
Pace pleaded guilty Friday to one count of theft of government money, while Greene pleaded guilty April 29 to the charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana.
The Daily Review reported last month that two other former housing authority employees had pleaded in the same case.
Both Pace and Greene resigned as housing authority employees at the end of April, Executive Director Clarence Robinson said this morning. On April 7, the State Civil Service Commission had approved suspending Pace and Greene, both classified civil service employees, without pay.
A December 2014 Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s report said the Morgan City Housing Authority paid almost $700,000 in improper bonuses and wages in excess of what state civil service rules allowed between 2007 and 2014.
The theft count for which Pace pleaded guilty to occurred Nov. 15, 2012, when former Housing Manager Tori D. Johnson, Pace and Greene stole over $1,000 from the U.S. government, a Feb. 18 bill of indictment said.
As of this morning, no other information was available on Pace’s plea.
According to the factual basis for Greene’s guilty plea, from 2008-13, former Housing Authority Executive Director Charles Spann, Pace, Greene and Johnson received $514,764.14 in fraudulent bonus payments. Of that amount, Greene received $165,405.46 to which she wasn’t entitled.
Greene was employed as housing manager of the Morgan City Housing Authority for over 20 years as a Louisiana Civil Service employee, the factual basis stated.
In 2007, former executive director, Edward Jagnangan, requested a one-time bonus for housing authority employees because of extra work they did after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The civil service board approved the request, the factual basis said.
Pace and Johnson were also housing authority employees and worked in the office with Greene. In late 2007, Spann became executive director.
After receiving the approved bonus, Johnson requested from Spann that she and other office employees continue receiving bonuses, the factual basis stated.
To justify the bonuses, Johnson and Pace wrote false justifications for the bonuses, which Spann signed off on.
In July 2014, investigators with the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office interviewed Greene and she wasn’t forthcoming, telling investigators the Morgan City Housing Authority office staff did exceptional work, entitling them to the bonuses, the factual basis said.
Despite having knowledge that illegal bonuses were being paid to the office staff, Greene did not, as soon as possible, inform the appropriate authority of the crime, the factual basis said.
Greene’s sentencing date is scheduled to be set at a later date.
On April 22, Spann, of Kingsport, Tennessee, and Johnson of Morgan City, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. A sentencing date for Spann and Johnson is set for June 27.
On Feb. 18, Spann, Johnson, Pace and Greene were indicted on one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
The indictment also named Pace and Greene in 14 counts of theft of government money. Johnson was indicted on 12 counts of theft of government money, while Spann was indicted on five counts of theft of government money.
Spann received $111,657.47 and Johnson received $100,040.23 to which they were not entitled, according to their pleas. Spann resigned as the housing authority’s director in June 2013. Johnson resigned from her position before Spann did.
According to the indictment, the defendants faced five years in prison for the conspiracy count and 10 years in prison for each count of theft of government money. They also faced three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.