Married couple — both foster care executives — sentenced for embezzling public funds
A couple has been sentenced for misappropriating public funds for a group of foster homes they ran, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.
CSJ Kidogo, 76, was sentenced to 180 days in county jail on Wednesday and placed on five years of formal probation. His wife, Hitaji Kidogo, 65, was sentenced to three years of summary probation, the district attorney’s office said.
The pair paid $109,093 in restitution and were ordered to stop running foster homes.
CSJ Kidogo pleaded guilty to one felony count of misappropriation of public money in September 2015, authorities said. He is the former executive director of Little People’s World Inc. His wife, the company’s former assistant executive director, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of embezzlement.
Little People’s World ran four group homes that provided foster care to more than two dozen children in Los Angeles County. A county audit revealed that CSJ Kidogo borrowed money marked for foster care to buy real estate for himself. He also used that money to pay mortgages on properties not used for the foster care program, the district attorney’s office said.
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