Patsy Clark Pleads Guilty to Stealing $110K from Housing Funds

Patsy Clark, 60, of Duson, La., has admitted to looting more than $110,000 from low-income housing funds she was entrusted to manage — a betrayal that spanned years of unchecked theft and deception.

Clark, the former executive director of the Duson Housing Authority from 1990 to November 2014, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Patrick Hanna on one count of federal program theft. The plea, awaiting final approval from U.S. District Judge Elizabeth E. Foote, exposes a scheme that unraveled during a routine 2014 audit.

Investigators found Clark stole $93,270 in tenant payments between 2012 and 2014. She didn’t stop there. Clark used the Housing Authority’s credit card to make $11,780.33 in personal purchases, treating public funds like a private piggy bank. On top of that, she deposited $4,954 in tenant security deposit refunds and rent payments directly into her personal bank account.

The total loss to the United States: $110,113.33. Every dollar came from programs meant to support struggling families in Duson — money siphoned off by the very person sworn to protect it.

Clark now faces up to 10 years in federal prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is set for July 13, 2018.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-Office of Inspector General led the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dominic Rossetti is prosecuting the case, closing the book on a decades-long tenure turned criminal enterprise.