Feds indict 3 on charges of lying and kickbacks to ex-Lessie Bates Davis leader
Four months after the former executive director of Lessie Bates Davis Neighborhood House pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $250,000 from the nonprofit family support agency in 2016 and 2017, a federal court has indicted three others on charges of self-dealing and corruption.
The U.S. Attorney’s office on Wednesday charged Leonard Johnson, 33, of St. Louis, and Jeremy Turner, 31, of Dallas, Texas, with aiding and abetting former Lessie Bates Neighborhood House executive director Christopher Coleman by making false statements to law enforcement officials.
The indictment alleges that Coleman paid approximately $24,000 to Johnson, who used the business name “JCS Consulting,” while more than $40,000 went to Turner, operating as “Teach Me Technology LLC.” Both men then made cash payments back to Coleman, according to the office of Steven Weinhoeft, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois.
The indictment further charges that Johnson and Turner lied to FBI and IRS agents about the kickbacks.
Tiffany Taylor, 37, of Maryville, Illinois, was charged separately with making false statements to a federal agent.
According to the indictment, Lessie Bates Neighborhood House helped administer a federal grant to a Cahokia School District 187 after-school program between 2015 and 2018. A “significant number” of Apple products that included Apple watches, iPads and laptop computers were purchased by the Lessie Bates Davis Neighborhood House and provided to people associated with the after-school program.
Taylor, a grant manager and writer for District 187, lied to a federal agent when she denied that she had requested the Apple watches, the indictment alleges.
The official website of the Lessie Bates Neighborhood House says the nonprofit, faith-based agency’s mission is “to improve the quality of life for residents of all ages by providing quality early childhood development services, comprehensive youth services, individual and family support services, services to older adults and housing economic development services, which will help move individuals and families out of poverty.”
After he was named the executive director of Lessie Bates in 2016, Coleman told the BND, “I am excited and humbled to have grown up in poverty in East St. Louis and attended East St. Louis District 189 and now lead the agency that provided my family hope when I was a young boy.”
Coleman resigned in January 2018. Tax records from 2016 show that Coleman’s annual salary was $102,000 and that he received other compensation worth $16,200, according to the latest Form 990 on file with the watchdog group GuideStar.
The tax records show that Lessie Bates had $9 million in revenue in 2016, when contributions and grants totaled $7.6 million.
Embezzling from an organization that receives federal funds is a felony offense, punishable by up to 10 year in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. Making a false statement carries a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Norman R. Smith is prosecuting the case .
This story was originally published October 24, 2019 at 1:20 PM.
