COLUMBUS, Ohio – Gregory J. Darr, 65, of Coshocton, formerly the Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer of the Coshocton Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA), was sentenced today to 30 months in prison for embezzling more than $431,000 from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

 

Benjamin C. Glassman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Brad Geary, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General; Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost; Tommy D. Coke, Inspector in Charge, U.S. Postal Inspection Service; Coshocton County Sheriff Timothy L. Rogers, Richmond County, Ga. Sheriff Richard Roundtree and Kimberly Cheatle, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Secret Service, Atlanta; announced the sentence handed down today by Chief U.S. District Judge Edmund A. Sargus, Jr.

 

“Judge Sargus’ sentence included a requirement that Darr repay taxpayers the $431,668.45 he embezzled and that he remain under court supervision for three more years,” U.S. Attorney Glassman said. “The sentence takes into account that Darr not only embezzled the money, but that he attempted to cover-up and obstruct investigators, abusing his position of public trust,”

 

Darr pleaded guilty on September 4, 2018 to conspiring to embezzle money from the United States. His plea was the result of a joint federal-state investigation into public corruption and embezzlement of funds from CMHA. The agency received federal HUD money each year to provide housing to low-income households.

 

Darr served as the Executive Director of the CMHA Resident Council, even though he had also been serving as the Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer of CMHA since 2001. Federal regulations prohibited him from serving in the resident council leadership capacity or from benefitting financially from the council.

 

Beginning in January 2012 and continuing through September 2017, Darr repeatedly embezzled money from both the CMHA and the Resident Council operating accounts for his own personal gain and for the gain of co-defendant Eric L. Blackwell, 54, of Coshocton.

 

Darr used the money for, among other things, restaurant bills, out-of-state expenses made in connection with real-estate ventures he co-owned with Blackwell, home improvements made to properties that he or Blackwell owned, and a marina slip and lot rental at Spend-a-Day Marina on Indian Lake, where he and Blackwell maintained a boat and mobile home.

 

While on the clock with CMHA, Darr routinely traveled to Georgia to manage his investment properties, all while being paid by CMHA to manage the agency’s day-to-day operations in Coshocton. He and Blackwell also improperly used CMHA office space and supplies to operate their joint business ventures.

 

In August 2017, Darr learned of a federal investigation into his unlawful activities when agents with the HUD Office of Inspector General executed search warrants at CMHA. He thereafter took steps to willfully obstruct and impede the investigation, by falsifying resident council meeting notes and attempting to conceal records relevant to the investigation.

 

Relatedly, Darr and Blackwell falsified claims to obtain monthly housing assistance payments on behalf of purported tenants who never actually resided in a housing project managed by the two defendants in Augusta, Ga.

 

Blackwell also pleaded guilty to conspiracy and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 16.

 

“Today’s sentence proves our continuing resolve to root out fraud and corruption in all forms, particularly when the programs involved should have been used to help our neediest families,” said HUD OIG Special Agent in Charge Geary. “It is our continuing core mission to work with our law enforcement partners and the United States Attorney’s Office to protect the integrity of our housing programs and to take strong action against those who seek to personally benefit from them.”

 

“Dollars that were supposed to help families achieve the basic need of a roof over their heads instead were used by this guy to line his own pockets via his rental properties,” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said. “Today’s much-deserved sentence is the product of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies joining forces to take down a corrupt public official who preyed on the unprotected.”

 

U.S. Attorney Glassman commended the investigation of this case by federal and local law enforcement in Ohio and Georgia, as well as Assistant United States Attorneys Noah R. Litton and J. Michael Marous, who represented the United States in this case.

 

If you have information related to public housing corruption, please email hotline@hudoig.gov or call 1-800-347-3735.

 

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