The final person convicted in a years-long fraud scheme at the South Bend Housing Authority has been sentenced, and he’s received the longest prison term of all the defendants involved.
As assistant director of the housing authority from 2015 through 2019, 47-year-old Albert Smith held a position of public trust. He had access to millions of federal dollars earmarked to maintain public housing so that it’s safe and affordable. Instead, Smith and others gave the federal money to outside contractors for work that never took place. The contractors would cash the checks and kick back a portion to Smith and former director Tonya Robinson.
The scheme stole about $6 million from the federal government.
In May Robinson received a nine-year prison sentence. On Thursday U.S. District Judge Jon DeGuilio sentenced Smith to 11 years in prison. Both Robinson and Smith gambled hundreds of thousands of dollars at casinos. They've each been ordered to pay the government about $3 million in restitution.
In a written statement, FBI Indianapolis Special-Agent-in Charge Herbert J. Stapleton said the sentence “shows that those who violate the public trust will be held accountable.”
