White receives probation in scheme to defraud rental assistance
Along with 24 months of probation, Gloria White will be required to repay Geminus Corp. $177,800, United States District Court Judge Philip P. Simon ruled at her Thursday morning sentencing in Hammond. White, 60, who entered a plea in November, initially was facing 21 to 27 months in prison.
Simon told White he feels 'like a broken record' in dealing with cases involving public funds because he views them as a 'breach of public trust.'
'During the pandemic, when people were genuinely afraid, Congress finally did something to stem the tide of impending disaster and came up with this construct — rental assistance — to keep people in their homes,' he said. 'I'm really offended by this behavior of people taking advantage of these systems, and I think most fair-minded people feel the same way.'
White and fellow employee Valencia Franklin were accused of misappropriating Emergency Rental Assistance funds destined to help renters hang on to their residences during the pandemic by creating false landlords to fraudulently request money from the program, according to an independent audit by an Indianapolis accounting firm. Geminus Corp. discovered discrepancies in its records which led to finding out about the potential fraud in July 2022, according to Bill Trowbridge, president and CEO of Geminus and its umbrella organization, Regional Care Group, the Post-Tribune previously reported.
The nonprofit service agency based in Merrillville immediately contacted the U.S. Department of the Treasury and fired Franklin, as well as alerted the accounting firm that does its annual audit. The audit, released in January 2023, covered fiscal years ending in June 2021 and 2022. The $636,000 figure is what Geminus 'had strong suspicions' was fraudulent and reported to the feds and the agency's auditors, Trowbridge said.
Geminus received $40 million in federal funding for the Emergency Rental Assistance program as a pass-through agency, distributing the money throughout Lake County during the pandemic.
Franklin was sentenced to two years in prison earlier this month.
Simon credited White's attorney, Luis Sanchez, for counseling her to 'do the right thing' and cooperating with the U.S. Attorney's office.
'When you're in a hole, you need to stop digging, and you did that,' Simon said. 'You've earned (probation as the sentence) through cooperation.
'You're a lovely woman who made a really bad decision — rarely do I see someone come before me with not so much as a parking ticket — but you do have the burden of being a convicted felon now.'
White apologized to Simon, the court, her family, friends, community, and twin sister for her crime.
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