The former executive director of the South Bend Housing Authority has been sentenced to 9 years in prison and has to pay over $3 million in restitution.
Tonya Robinson, 61, was sentenced after being found guilty of bank and wire fraud in a scheme that stole nearly $6 million from the Housing Authority.
The fraud scheme involved Robinson and other housing authority leaders giving federal money to outside contractors for work that never took place. The contractors would cash the checks and kick back a portion to Robinson.
The scheme took place while Robinson was director of the Housing Authority from 2014-2019. Members of the FBI raided the housing authority's headquarters in 2019 and Robinson was charged two years later.
All told, six people were charged in the scheme and three of them — Tyreisha Robinson (Tonya Robinson's daughter and a former housing authority employee), Archie Robinson (a contractor with no relation to Tonya Robinson) and Ronald Taylor (a contractor) — pleaded guilty rather than go to trial. Albert Smith, the agency's assistant director, and Douglas Donley, another contractor, also went to trial and were convicted.
All told, $5.8 million was paid to contractors during the time period in question, though some of that amount went to legitimate work. Prosecutors then said Tonya Robinson and Smith each gambled away hundreds of thousands of dollars they stole at the nearby Four Winds Casino.
“Robinson was supposed to be a public servant in her role at the South Bend Housing Authority, but she chose to use her position of trust to line her own pockets,” said Herbert J. Stapleton, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Indianapolis Office in a written statement.
All told here are how all six defendants were sentenced:
-Tyreisha Robinson was sentenced to no jail time beyond and two years of probation, and was ordered to pay around $360,00 in restitution.
-Douglas Donley was sentenced to 27 months in prison, two years of probation, and was ordered to pay around $300,000 in restitution.
-Archie Robinson III was sentenced to a total term of six months in prison, two years of probation, and was ordered to pay around $1.15 million in restitution.
-Ronald Taylor, Jr. was sentenced to term of imprisonment of 44 months in prison, two years of probation and was ordered to pay $1,7 in restit.7 millionion to victims of the offense.