Thread: Questions on Illegal Immigrants Lead to Raid on Nonprofit’

Questions on Illegal Immigrants Lead to Raid on Nonprofit’s Office


By GEORGIA KRAL


NEW HAVEN — As Connecticut grapples with the remnants of a weekend storm and shivers in sub-freezing temperatures, a nonprofit group that helps many poor residents pay their heating bills is reeling after federal agents raided its offices on Thursday.

More than a dozen Kevlar-armored agents rushed into the Community Action Agency of New Haven, said Amos Smith, the organization’s president and chief executive. The agents, from departments including Health and Human Services, had a warrant demanding all documents from 2003 onward, he said.

“I’ve never seen anything like it before,â€

The illegals better move out of New Haven and take your ID's with you because the Fed now have your home addresses! Merry Christmas or should I say, Merry Escape!

Dixie

That sounds good -

Posted on Wed, Dec 19, 2007 Zoom + | Zoom -

State sends in team to oversee some CAA expenditures
By Mary E. O’Leary, Register Topics Editor

NEW HAVEN — Community Action Agency of New Haven may have been double billing for meal deliveries for at least a decade, a timeframe that covers four executive directors, and a finance official who was later jailed for embezzlement.

In light of the double billing for some homebound and disabled clients, the state Department of Social Services has sent in an oversight team to review and approve all expenditures of CAA using state and federal funds.

CAA’s current executive director, Amos Smith, notified DSS and the Agency on Aging of South Central Connecticut, around Nov. 14 that it had discovered the billing problem, something that apparently had not been caught in previous audits undertaken by Levitzky and Berney and most recently by Blum Shapiro.

DSS said the agency paid CAA twice for the same meals from two different funding sources.

Smith, in a Nov. 28 letter to Neysa Stallmann Guerino, executive director of the regional Agency on Aging, said the incorrect billing “may cover a period of 7-11 years.â€

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/lo ... -headlines

State won't audit anti-poverty agencies

By Brian Lockhart
Staff Writer

December 18, 2007

After allegations that a New Haven anti-poverty agency misappropriated federal heating assistance funds and possibly falsified records, Republican state legislators are calling for audits of the state's 12 similar agencies, including NEON in Norwalk and CTE in Stamford.

A spokesman for the state Department of Social Services, which oversees the agencies, said there were no plans to conduct extensive audits.

"You have to be careful not to paint all the agencies with the same brush," department spokesman David Dearborn said. "When there are situations that indicate a need to look closer, we do. But at this time, I haven't seen anything under deliberation that we would be dispatching auditors to all 12 agencies because of a fear they're all committing errors. We don't believe that's the case."

Late Friday, Senate and House Republicans urged the department to perform "a full review" of all 12 of Connecticut's Community Action Agencies in response to last week's raid by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Housing and Urban Development of the New Haven Community Action Agency.

The New Haven agency has been under investigation by the federal and state governments for misallocating funds involving heating assistance and meals programs. It has had a history of fiscal problems and has been taken over by the state before, while two former workers were jailed for embezzling more than $1 million.

Dearborn said the department has taken prompt action by implementing stricter anti-fraud policies for distributing heating assistance after allegations surfaced that the New Haven site was knowingly giving aid to illegal immigrants.

Last week, the department assigned financial and program monitors to the New Haven agency after the office's director said he discovered financial improprieties regarding meal delivery services to clients of state and federally funded programs.

Dearborn also noted that all 12 community action agencies are required to hire independent auditors and submit annual audits to the department.

"But as far as full departmental auditors being dispatched to all 12 agencies, we don't see a need for that at this time," Dearborn said.

The initial call for an immediate systemwide review came Friday from state Sen. Len Fasano, R-North Haven, and state Rep. Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford.

House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, said yesterday he agreed that the department should scrutinize the community action agencies, including NEON, to assure the federal government that the state is providing proper oversight of federal dollars.

"My concern is losing this money and the assistance to these needy families," Cafero said. "I have to presume, knowing (NEON Executive Director) Joe Mann, that they are one of the providers that follow the rules and they should be pleased to prove (that) to the world."

But Mann, a former Democratic state representative, said such a review would be "overkill." Mann said NEON closely follows department guidelines for distributing heating aid and does not provide a Meals on Wheels-type program.

"I don't need another investigation," Mann said.

Besides receiving significant scrutiny in recent years from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over early childhood programs, NEON is already the subject of a review by the state Department of Social Services.

Some city residents, including former NEON Director Robert Burgess, in August filed a complaint with the department accusing Mann and others of mismanaging the South Norwalk-based nonprofit agency.

Dearborn said the review of those concerns continues. But earlier this fall, the Connecticut Association of Community Action, an umbrella group that provides guidance for the 12 community action agencies, recommended the department dismiss the charges against Mann after its audit.

That audit recommended that Mann and the NEON board develop ethics policies, address deficiencies from a 2006 audit, balance the budget and adopt a strategic plan.

Edith Karsky, executive director for the Connecticut Association of Community Action, yesterday said she was troubled by Republicans' calls for a full review of the agencies.

"It's an absolute overreaction," Karsky said. "Most of the agencies have, historically, very good to excellent relationships with DSS and the programs we operate. We have been peeling away at the problems at the New Haven agency."

E. Phillip McKain, head of Stamford-based CTE Inc., could not be reached yesterday. Last week, Keith Sears, vice president of operations, said CTE has always distributed heating aid under department guidelines.
Copyright © 2007, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.



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[i]Mr. Smith said that his agency had recently changed its policy at the behest of state officials and that “people without a Social Security number now get processed manually.â€