Catholic Charities to pay more than $200K on alleged grant misuse
Federal prosecutors announced Wednesday that Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada agreed to pay more than $200,000 to resolve allegations that employees misused grants meant to help the elderly.
Catholic Charities employees falsified records of stipend recipients from the “Foster Grandparent” and “Senior Companion” programs, community service grants that are funded through the federal U.S. Corporation for National and Community Service, between 2014 and 2015, according to a U.S. Department of Justice release.
Prosecutors say the employees directed recipients to falsify records, with federal grant money to pay stipends for hours that were never actually worked.
When the nonprofit’s executive management discovered the fraud, it voluntarily disclosed it to federal investigators and fired the employees who “had perpetrated the fraud and cooperated fully in the United States’ investigation of its administration of these grants,” the DOJ statement said.
Tom Roberts, CEO of Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada, said in a statement to the Review-Journal that “our organization took swift action to investigate the irregularities and to self-report through the proper channels” when it learned about the discrepancy.
Roberts said the $206,368.35 settlement will not come from any funding provided by donors or grants.
“Each day, Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada feeds the hungry, provides shelter for the homeless, and supports families and seniors in need of assistance. The federal government relies on its non-profit partners to help ensure that federal grant funds are being used to assist their communities,” U.S. Attorney Nicholas A. Trutanich said. “Today’s settlement is a reminder that everyone receiving federal grant funds must adhere to grant compliance requirements and self-report misuse of federal grant funds, as Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada did here.”
The joint federal investigation was conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the District of Nevada and Eastern District of Pennsylvania with the Corporation for National and Community Service Office of Inspector General.
Contact Jonathan Ng at jng@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ByJonathanNg on Twitter.