DETROIT – A former manager of the Colony Arms apartments in Detroit, Nekicha Redmond, 39, of Oxford, Mississippi, pleaded guilty on Monday to bribery, United States Attorney Matthew Schneider announced.
Schneider was joined in the announcement by Brad Geary, special agent in charge of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Inspector General, and Timothy R. Slater, special agent in charge of the Detroit Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
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In 2013, Redmond worked as a manager of the Colony Arms apartments, a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development funded Section 8 housing facility.
Redmond admitted during her guilty plea that she solicited and accepted cash bribes from prospective tenants in exchange for improperly moving them up on a lengthy waiting list for an apartment.
One of the cash bribes she took was from a woman living in a Detroit-area homeless shelter.
Schneider said, “Here, a fiduciary of federal housing funds not only breached the public trust by taking bribes, but compounded her crimes by fleecing the poor and the homeless. This type of unconscionable criminal conduct will be investigated and prosecuted aggressively and to the full extent allowed by federal law.”
Geary stated, “The guilty plea disclosed today proves our continuing resolve to root out fraud and corruption in all forms, especially when the programs involved should have been used to help our neediest families. It is our continuing core mission to work with our federal law enforcement partners and the United States Attorney’s Office to protect the integrity of HUD’s programs.”
“Allegations into the misuse of hard-earned taxpayer money for personal gain are taken very seriously by the FBI and our law enforcement partners,” said Special Agent in Charge Timothy R. Slater, Detroit Division of the FBI.
“Today’s guilty plea is an example that corrupt individuals who use their positions to enrich themselves at the expense of our neediest families will be held accountable.”
Redmond is scheduled to be sentenced March 28 and faces up to 10 years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000.