Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Miami Herald - July 1, 2005
Luisa Yanez, lyanez@herald.com
The director of a South Miami-Dade food pantry for the needy faces charges she stole $28,000 in taxpayer money and used it to pay her own personal expenses, the county's inspector general said Thursday.
Maura Bailey, 46, head of United People Counseling Ministry Services, was arrested and charged with running an organized scheme to defraud, grand theft and uttering a forged instrument.
She was released from jail Wednesday on a $10,000 bond.
Attempts to reach Bailey Thursday were unsuccessful.
Inspector General Christopher Mazzella called Bailey's scheme callous.
"Her greed in seeking personal gain ultimately victimized those people in our community that are in most need of help," Mazzella wrote in a news release.
His office will try to recover the funds stolen, he added.
Here's how the swindle worked:
Bailey applied for and won two county grants, one to distribute food to poor families, the other to provide groceries and personal hygiene products to indigent individuals who are HIV positive.
But, instead, Bailey took the money and spent it on herself, friends and family, investigators said.
She paid for her 2003 leased Ford Explorer, the mortgage on two properties, her utility bills, even her property taxes, the investigation revealed.
Bailey used little of the $28,000 in grant money to buy goods for the disadvantaged.
The probe showed she made 17 legitimate food purchases from the Daily Bread Food Bank, totaling $1,993.
It's unclear how much was actually given to the poor.
Investigators say Bailey covered up her misdeeds by forging bookkeeping records.
She double invoiced and wrote fake checks for reimbursement.
One alleged food supplier, 21 Century Foods, turned out to be a Florida corporation owned and operated by Bailey and Karen Crapps, another employee of United People Counseling Ministry Services and also Bailey's roommate.
It didn't end there. Investigators say Bailey sublet office space at double the actual amount of rent due. She then submitted the rent expenses for grant funds.
Investigators say the money was stolen between March 2003 and June 2004, when an audit by one of the grant providers uncovered what appeared to be fraudulent invoices.
The state attorney's office and the Inspector General's Office then launched the probe.
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Herald researcher Monika Leal contributed to this report.
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