21 MAG 8297

Case 1:21-mj-08297-UA Document 1 Filed 08/24/21 Page 1 of 5

Approved: ________________________________
ASHLEY C. NICOLAS
Assistant United States Attorney

Before: THE HONORABLE KEVIN N. FOX

United States Magistrate Judge
Southern District of New York

------------------------------------X
:
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA : COMPLAINT
:
: Violation of 18 U.S.C.
- v. - : §§ 641 and 2
:
: COUNTY OF OFFENSE:
JOSETTE DABO, : NEW YORK
:
Defendant. :
:
----------------------------------- X

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK, ss.:

JENNIFER SCHOFIELD-LAKE, being duly sworn, deposes and

says that she is a Special Agent with the Department of Housing
and Urban Development, Office of the Inspector General (“HUD-
OIG”) and charges as follows:

COUNT ONE

1. From at least in or about August 2016 up to and

including at least in or about December 2019, in the Southern
District of New York and elsewhere, JOSETTE DABO, the defendant,
did knowingly embezzle, steal, purloin, and knowingly convert to
her use and the use of another, vouchers, money, and things of
value of the United States and a department and agency thereof,
to wit, the United States Department of Housing and Urban
Development, which exceeded the sum of $1,000, and did receive,
conceal, and retain the same with intent to convert it to her
use and gain, knowing it to have been embezzled, stolen,
purloined and converted, to wit, DABO fraudulently obtained
federal housing subsidies to which she was not entitled.

(Title 18, United States Code, Sections 641 and 2.)

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The bases for my knowledge and for the foregoing charge
are, in part, as follows:

2. I am a Special Agent with HUD-OIG. I have been

personally involved in the investigation of this matter, and I
base this affidavit on that personal experience, as well as on
my conversations with other law enforcement agents and my
examination of various reports and records. Because this
affidavit is being submitted for the limited purpose of
establishing probable cause for the offenses cited above, it
does not include all the facts that I have learned during the
course of the investigation. Where the contents of
conversations of others are reported herein, they are reported
in substance and in part.

The Section 8 Project-Based Property Program

3. Based on my knowledge and experience derived from

this investigation and from my participation in prior
investigations into federal housing benefit fraud, I know the
following:

a. Under the Low-Income Housing Preservation

and Resident Homeownership Act of 1990, private landlords may
enter into Housing Assistance Payment (“HAP”) contracts with the
United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
(“HUD”), in which they agree to preserve a particular number of
contract units which will be made available for low-income
tenants who qualify for the Section 8 Rent Subsidy (the “HAP
Contract”). This is also referred to as a “Section 8 Project-
Based Property Program” (the “Program”).

b. Low-income individuals who meet certain

eligibility criteria may obtain housing at a reduced rate
through the Program. Under the Program, the tenant portion of
the rent is determined by the Section 8 assistance formula and
administered by the unit owner/management. A housing subsidy is
paid directly to the landlord by HUD on behalf of the
participating individual. The individual then pays the
difference between the actual rent charged by the landlord and
the amount subsidized by the program.

c. Under the Program, the Section 8 recipient

tenant is referred to as Head of Household (HOH). A spouse may
be included as a “Co-Head of Household.” In order to qualify,
the HOH, co-HOH and each additional adult resident of the
household are required to submit all income and asset
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information requested, along with supporting documentation.
After initial enrollment, the Section 8 recipient tenants are
further required to submit a recertification packet (the
“Recertification Packet”) on an annual basis certifying, among
other things, annual income, household composition, and the
income of any other household members. The Recertification
Packet requires the applicant to endorse the following explicit
acknowledgment: “I/We certify that the information . . . [on]
this form [is] true and complete to the best of my/our knowledge
and belief.”

The 96th Street Apartment

4. Based on my review of records maintained by HUD,

and a particular privately-owned apartment building regarding
JOSETTE DABO, the defendant, I have learned, among other things,
the following:

a. Since in or about 2016, a particular

apartment building on 96th Street, New York New York (the “96th
Street Apartment Building”) has been a party to a HAP Contract
with HUD in which the owner of the 96th Street Apartment
Building (the “Owner”) has agreed to preserve 115 units for
eligible Section 8 tenants.

b. From at least in or about 2012, JOSETTE

DABO, the defendant, has resided in an apartment (the
“Apartment”) in the 96th Street Apartment Building as a Section
8 tenant.

c. Beginning in or about 2012, up to and

including in or about 2019, DABO, and her spouse submitted
Recertification Packets (the “Recertification Packets”) in which
DABO was listed as the “spouse/co-head of household.” DABO and
her spouse consistently reported that (i) DABO’s spouse was
unemployed, (ii) DABO, her spouse, and their two children
resided in the Apartment, and (iii) DABO earned a particular
income. As evidence of her income, DABO submitted what
purported to be income statements and pay stubs from her
employer.
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DABO Earned Substantial Income That Was Not Reported to NYCHA

5. Based on my review of records maintained by HUD,

the City of New York, and the 96th Street Apartment, regarding
JOSETTE DABO, the defendant, I have learned, among other things,
the following:

a. DABO, earned wages continuously from in or

about 2012 to in or about at least 2019, from the City of New
York where she was employed first by the New York City Housing
Authority (“NYCHA”) and later by the Department of Homeless
Services.

b. From in or about 2012 up to in and around

2019, the Apartment was the sole address associated with DABO
through both her employer, tax documents, and HUD databases.

c. I have review W-2 Wage & Tax Statements (“W-

2s”) records obtained from DABO’S employers for the years 2012
through 2019. I have compared the W-2s with the Recertification
Packets. As described below, from in or about 2016 up to in or
about 2019, DABO’S W-2s reveal that she earned significantly
more than the amount she reported in her Recertification
Packets:

6. Based on my review of records maintained by HUD

and the Owner, as well as my review of the W-2s, I have
concluded that the income statements and pay-stubs submitted by
JOSETTE DABO, the defendant, were forged or altered to make her
income appear lower in order to increase the Section 8 subsidy
to which she was entitled.
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DABO Received Housing Subsidies to Which She Was Not Entitled
Based on the False AOIs

7. I have reviewed a rent recalculation for the

Apartment which was performed by HUD. The rent recalculation
reflects that, as a result of her false statements regarding her
income, between in or about 2016 and in or about 2019, JOSETTE
DABO, the defendant, received a rent reduction of approximately
$65,736 through subsidies to which she was not entitled.

DABO Enters Into Repayment Agreement With the Owner

8. On or about February 18, 2020, JOSETTE DABO, the

defendant, entered into an agreement with the Owner, in which
she acknowledged that she failed to disclose income thereby
committing a material lease violation. Accordingly, DABO agreed
to a repayment plan with the Owner that requires repayment of
$45,000.00 on a schedule of $75.00 per month from March 1, 2020
through February 1, 2070.

WHEREFORE, the deponent respectfully requests that a

warrant issue for the arrest of JOSETTE DABO, the defendant, and
that she be arrested and imprisoned, or bailed, as the case may
be.

s/ Jennifer Schofield-Lake by KNF, USMJ

______________________________
JENNIFER SCHOFIELD-LAKE
Special Agent
Office of the Inspector General
Department of Housing and Urban
Development

Sworn to before me by
reliable electronic means
this 24th of August, 2021

____________________________________
THE HONORABLE KEVIN N. FOX
United States Magistrate Judge
Southern District of New York