Two Chester Housing Authority officials took more than $75,000 in bribes from a contractor who got $2.5 million worth of work from them, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has alleged.
They also created a company and bilked their authority for more than a half-million dollars for work said company didn’t do, the feds also said.
Norman D. Wise, 57, of Mullica Hill, N.J.; Douglas E. Daniel, 65, Philadelphia; and Leonard F. Coleman, 53, of Paulsboro, N.J., were charged with bribery and fraud related to two separate schemes, according to United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Wise was the director of public housing for the Chester Housing Authority and Daniel was the housing program manager and Wise’s chief assistant.
Both have been fired.
The bribes
In one incident, Coleman paid off Wise and Daniel in exchange for contracting work awarded to him. In the second, prosecutors say Wise and Daniel created a contracting company that was a front to fraudulently bill the Chester Housing Authority.
According to the U.S. attorney, from July 2014 through March 2022, Coleman made bribes to Wise and Daniel separately in exchange for CHA contracting work being awarded to his business, Coleman’s Contracting.
Wise and Daniel inflated the amount Coleman charged on invoices submitted on work he performed for the housing authority, the federal prosecutor said.
Coleman then allegedly paid Wise and Daniel bribes in the amounts covered by the inflated invoices and directly deposited the bribes into the personal bank accounts of Wise and Daniel.
According to the U.S. attorney, Coleman made approximately $76,400 in bribe payments to Wise and Daniel at the time he received approximately $2.5 million in revenue from the Chester Housing Authority.
The fraud
In the second scheme, from January 2019 through January 2023, Wise and Daniel billed the authority for work allegedly performed by their company, Trinity Management Group.
The federal prosecutor said that most of the work Trinity Management Group billed the authority had been performed by salaried housing authority employees during their working hours, or it was performed by other contractors who were paid by the authority, or it wasn’t done at all.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said the fraudulent invoices included billing for landscaping, painting, window replacements, and other construction and renovation work at housing authority facilities.
This fraudulent billing resulted in losses to the Chester Housing Authority of $544,967, Romero said.
‘Gravely disappointed’
Steven Fischer, executive director of the Chester Housing Authority, responded to the announcement of the charges.
“The agency is, of course, gravely disappointed to have been victimized by trusted personnel,” he said. “This will not cause the CHA to waiver from its mission of providing affordable housing. The recovery from this misfortune is well underway as we await the legal outcome of the individuals involved.”
Fischer said that both Wise and Daniel were terminated from their positions.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Louis D. Lappen.
It was not specified how the ruses were discovered.
Attempts to reach Wise and Daniel were unsuccessful. Coleman declined comment. Wise’s phone extension at the Chester Housing Authority said it is an invalid extension number.
Daniel has listed on his LinkedIn page that he has been housing program manager at Chester Housing Authority since November 1997. Prior to that, he worked as director of site operations for the Philadelphia Housing Authority from April 1989 to November 1997.
A Google search of Trinity Management LLC says the business is permanently closed. The telephone number associated with it says the number is no longer in service.
Chartered in 1937, the Chester Housing Authority owns and operates or co-manages 12 properties, which house more than 2,500 families. It also assists 1,600 families through the Housing Choice Voucher Program and the authority has also developed 104 units for first-time homeownership.
