BCN Ep #14 Feds: Homeownership program director for nonprofit stole 30 properties…

BCN Ep #14
Feds: Homeownership program director for nonprofit stole 30 properties…

The director of homeownership programs for a Detroit nonprofit was arrested Wednesday, accused of conspiring with others to steal more than 30 properties across Wayne County, most of them in Detroit, in a scheme targeting low-income people facing potential tax foreclosure, federal prosecutors announced.

Zina Thomas, 60, of Detroit, was charged in a criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday in U.S. District Court. According to the complaint, Thomas lives in one of the properties involved in the scheme.

A news release from U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison's Office said leaders of the nonprofit United Community Housing Coalition, which provides housing assistance to Detroit's low-income residents, cooperated with the investigation.

"While it's deeply troubling that these individuals are alleged to have misused our company emails and computers, the charges confirm that the integrity of UCHC's programs are not being called into question," the nonprofit's executive director, Ted Phillips, said in a statement emailed to the Free Press.