A Gorham woman is facing up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine after pleading guilty to federal fraud charges.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office says between Feb. 2014 and Sept. 2016, Jamie Hussey embezzled more than $91,000 from the South Portland Housing Authority, where she worked as a resident services coordinator.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Perry says Hussey stole from a Housing and Urban Development program, the Family Self-Sufficiency Program, that allowed people to earn money for achieving certain goals.
“For each of the goals that they accomplish, money is put in an escrow and then if they successfully complete the program they can apply get the funds that they earned out of the escrow and use for their own benefits, so long as nobody in the family is receiving any welfare assistance,” he says.
Perry says Hussey had 48 checks issued in the names of FSS program participants saying they’d completed the program, and put them into her personal bank account. None of the people had requested the checks and they never got any of the money.