One of Sheriff Bradshaw's first priorities after becoming Sheriff in 2005 was tackling the lawlessness at some public housing complexes where low-income families live on government subsidies. Some tenants were selling drugs, committing violence, and even running criminal enterprises out of their apartments, making life a nightmare for their neighbors. Others were defrauding public assistance programs, stealing
hundreds of thousands of dollars from taxpayers. The first step the Sheriff took was to employ a veteran public assistance fraud investigator.
We quickly learned that problems
started when violent drug offenders falsified
their way into these complexes,
which are run by independent housing
authorities and private landlords. As
a condition for renting, tenants aren't
allowed to have criminal records, but
offenders have routinely lied about their
criminal ties and property managers
didn't have the resources for full background
investigations.
For example, our investigator found
out that one family underwent a basic
background check in the initial assistance
application in 1991. However, no
further checks were done after that.
Shortly after moving in, members of the
family committed violent crimes. Yet,
every year at renewal, the head of the
family checked "no" in the box asking if
anyone in the home had been arrested.
As a result, we helped strengthen the
language in rental agreements to reduce
falsifying documents.
We didn't stop there!
We added more investigators and created
partnerships with the Federal
Department of Housing and Urban
Development, Department of
Agriculture, and other agencies to build
major fraud cases. We also brought on
deputies to patrol public housing complexes
and reduce drug-related violence.
Before long, many crime families were
ousted under the "one strike" provision
in the rental agreement that permits
eviction of any family member or guest
who has taken part in a criminal activity.
Many other residents were charged with
defrauding public assistance programs.
Last year, one sting operation resulted
in 16 people being charged with stealing
more than $700,000 in government
assistance, including a property owner
who knowingly allowed his subsidized
housing tenants to commit fraud.
Another sting, focusing on corrupt
store owners operating within a low income
public housing site, resulted in
69 arrests for defrauding more than $1
million from food stamps and housing
benefits.
And yet another operation led to the indictments
of a housing official and his
fiancée, as well as an investigation into
several other individuals, for exploiting
weak financial controls to embezzle
more than $600,000 from public coffers.
The impact is hard to miss.
Crime
dropped nearly 90 percent over a period
of time at properties operated by
Palm Beach County Housing Authority,
which is one of the larger housing authorities
in the region.
There is still much work to be done.
Today we have three deputies and two
volunteers in our Public Assistance
Fraud team. They are reducing generational
evolution of crime while ensuring
the proper allocation of assistance for
deserving and needy families.
Ric L. Bradshaw
- Sheriff, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric L. Bradshaw is a career law
enforcement professional responsible for leading the largest law
enforcement agency in Palm Beach County. Sheriff Bradshaw has a
successful track record of forty (40) years in law enforcement. He rose
through the ranks of the West Palm Beach Police Department and in 1996
was appointed Chief of Police. On January 4, 2005, Sheriff Bradshaw was
sworn in as Sheriff of Palm Beach County. Sheriff Bradshaw is the
thirteenth sheriff to serve as the county's chief law enforcement
officer since the agency's origin in 1909.
