Anaheim Woman Admits Theft of HUD Funds

An Anaheim woman pleaded guilty Thursday to embezzling $83,000 in government money intended for poor tenants being displaced from their homes, a swindle, according to the prosecutor, that illustrates the kind of oversight that has mushroomed into the scandal at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Juanita Maria Tachvighi, 44, admitted that she stole HUD funds that should have been paid to 10 families who were being ousted from their South Los Angeles-area apartments by a rehabilitation project, Assistant U.S. Atty. Adam Schiff said.

Tachvighi, who has agreed to repay the $83,000, pleaded guilty in Los Angeles federal court to five counts of embezzling federal funds and three counts of theft of government property. When she is sentenced Nov. 27 by U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian, she faces up to 80 years in prison and a $2-million fine.

Tachvighi had contracted with the Los Angeles County Community Development Commission to provide relocation services for the tenants whose apartment building had been purchased by the agency and targeted for renovation. She helped find them new housing and purportedly made certain that they obtained the HUD money--disbursed locally by the CDC--to cover the cost of their relocation and any rent differentials, Schiff said.

Kept CDC Checks

But between July, 1986, and early 1988, according to Schiff, she funneled many of the CDC checks into her own bank account, leaving tenants to struggle with debts and higher rents.

“It’s a pretty bad case,” Schiff said. “She was taking rental money from the people who could least afford to have it taken from them.

“I think it’s part of the problem that exists with HUD. It shows the lack of oversight that enabled this rip-off to happen.”

HUD has become the focus of a House subcommittee investigation into allegations that funds for low-income housing have been siphoned off to pay consulting fees to the rich and influential.

HUD officials were unavailable for comment on Tachvighi’s case, but CDC spokesman Sam Lucchese said that Tachvighi’s activities were not related to HUD’s troubles.

“This was an isolated instance,” he said. “It has nothing to do with other HUD problems.”

Tachvighi and her lawyer could not be reached for comment.

Schiff said Tachvighi would find new housing for the tenants, tell them they were eligible for HUD relocation money--often $4,000 or $5,000, he said--and then keep most of it. Some were especially vulnerable because they were illegal aliens awaiting decisions on amnesty applications, Schiff said.

Mentioned Alien Status

“She would sort of allude to it by saying, ‘You’re lucky to be in the country and I’ll do my best to make sure you don’t have problems with deportation, but don’t rock the boat,’ ” Schiff alleged.

One of the displaced tenants “finally had the nerve to complain” when he did not get the money he was promised, Schiff said. Investigators discovered other victims by obtaining Tachvighi’s bank records and finding that their CDC checks had been deposited in her account, Schiff explained.