Feds raid housing authority

The Sentinel-Record/Richard Rasmussen HUD RAID: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-Office of Inspector General agents removed papers from the Hot Springs Housing Authority Central Officers early Tuesday after executing a search warrant. The agents interviewed employees, and searched offices and vehicles.
The Sentinel-Record/Richard Rasmussen HUD RAID: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-Office of Inspector General agents removed papers from the Hot Springs Housing Authority Central Officers early Tuesday after executing a search warrant. The agents interviewed employees, and searched offices and vehicles.

Federal agents with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (Office of Inspector General) descended on the administrative offices of the Hot Springs Housing Authority early Tuesday, executing a federal search warrant regarding reported allegations of misconduct.

The raid reportedly began around 8:30 a.m. with employees being removed from the offices, located at 1002 and 1004 Illinois St., and gathered in the parking lot where they were interviewed and released one at a time, a witness said.

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The Sentinel-Record/Richard Rasmussen VEHICLE SEARCH: Agents with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-Office of Inspector General search a vehicle belonging to an employee of the Hot Springs Housing Authority after executing a search warrant early Tuesday.

The agents then began searching the different offices, removing boxes of what appeared to be files and records, and searching some vehicles parked in the lot, including a vehicle belonging to Barbara Baer, executive director for HSHA.

The agents could also be seen videotaping various vehicles and inside and outside the office areas. Shortly after 10:30 a.m., agents brought in a U-Haul truck to begin loading up the boxes.

"The federal investigators are looking into allegations of misconduct on behalf of the administration," Hot Springs Police Capt. Jason Stachey stated, noting officers from HSPD's special operations unit were assisting in the operation as needed.

Stachey also noted the HSHA operates independently from the city of Hot Springs.

Al Carney, chairman of the HSHA Board of Commissioners, said all he knew was the agents had a warrant regarding some accusations that had been made, but he didn't know the exact nature of the accusations.

"We've had problem with some disgruntled employees making allegations," he said, noting the board had investigated some previous accusations in a few cases that "proved to be false."

He said they had some employees who had been fired in the last year and he suspected that's what it involved.

"There's about four or five disgruntled former employees," he said, adding that the investigation is with HUD's Little Rock office, and not out of Washington, D.C.

"This is a whistle blower issue," he said. "None of us know what's going on, but I guess we'll find out."

Carney said the HSHA recently finished it's annual audit, conducted by an independent out-of-state company, and "it was my understanding it was a good audit." He noted the audit was completed within the last two weeks.

"They spent three or four weeks getting everything done and it was my understanding it all came out good."

Carney said the agents would be conducting a number of interviews, including all the staff members and the board members, both as a group and individually.

"They told me these things can take months to complete," he said.

Carney said the HSHA oversees housing developments in the Illinois Street area and on Spring Street, with a total of 258 housing units, as well as Mountain View Towers, which has 120 units, and seven private duplexes in the city.

Ben Bancroft, the attorney for the HSHA, was on the scene briefly and said all he knew was the agents had a search warrant but he was not allowed to see it. "I don't know why they are here," he said.

HUD-OIG Assistant Special Agent in Charge Brandon Gardener said he couldn't comment on the situation Tuesday except to say it was "part of an ongoing investigation."

Other agents questioned at the scene also stated they couldn't comment on what was going on or release any information at this time.

Local on 03/26/2014

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