James Fitzpatrick, Rigging Inspection Process, Massachusetts 2015

Former Chelsea Housing Authority Executive and Public Housing Inspector Sentenced for Rigging Inspection Process

A former executive of the Chelsea Housing Authority (CHA) and a former public housing inspector were sentenced today for their roles in rigging the inspection process of federally funded housing units in Chelsea, Massachusetts.

James Fitzpatrick, 63, of Acton, Mass., and Bernard Morosco, 50, of Utica, NY, were sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock to three months and six months in prison, respectively, and one year of supervised release.

The two were convicted in April 2015 of conspiring to defraud the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) by impairing, impeding, and defeating the proper operation of HUD’s inspection process.

Before the REAC inspections of the CHA in 2007, 2009, and 2011, Morosco gave Fitzpatrick, the Assistant Director of the CHA, an advance list that revealed which units at the CHA would be inspected. Morosco, who was a REAC-certified inspector, worked for the CHA as a consultant, advising the CHA about how to get better scores on its REAC inspections.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Christina Scaringi, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General, Northeast Regional Office, made the announcement today. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys S. Theodore Merritt of Ortiz’s Public Corruption and Special Prosecutions Unit and Brian Pérez-Daple of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit.

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