PORTLAND, Maine: Kelly Ballinger, 57, a former property manager for a Portland apartment complex, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Portland to embezzling from an organization receiving federal funds and conspiring to alter money orders.
According to court records, Ballinger stole rent payments made by HUD Housing Choice Voucher Program tenants from December 2017 to June 2021. She would direct the tenants to pay their rent with a blank postal money order and then place her name or that of fellow employee Kathleen Conway, 70, on the payee line, adding information such as “groceries” on the memo line to suggest the payments were reimbursements.
In some instances, Ballinger would deflate the tenants’ income to as low as $0 so that HUD would pay a larger share of the rent to disguise shortfalls. Ballinger faces up to 10 years imprisonment and a maximum fine of $250,000 on the embezzlement charge and up to 5 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 on the alteration of a postal money order charge.
The Court may also order Ballinger to pay restitution to HUD. Conway, also a former employee, pleaded guilty to embezzlement on August 2, 2023, and is awaiting sentencing. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General and U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the case.
“Ballinger used her position of trust to take advantage of elderly and disabled individuals by preying on their vulnerability for her own self-enrichment,” said Acting Special Agent-in-Charge William Woolard with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service commends the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for their hard work on this investigation. “We will continue to conduct investigations and seek prosecution of those individuals who choose to partake in fraud schemes that take advantage of systems that are designed to support those in need,” said Ketty Larco-Ward, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Boston Division.
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Key Facts
- State: Maine
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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