Former Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation Employee Sentenced for Housing Assistance Fraud Scheme

PHILADELPHIA - United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that Latonia Reed, 41, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was sentenced today to two years of probation, community service, and restitution of $14,400 by United States District Judge Joel H. Slomsky for a scheme to defraud the City of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation ("PHDC"), Reed's then-employer.

The defendant was charged by information with one count of wire fraud and pleaded guilty in June of this year.

As detailed in court filings and statements, beginning in 2021, Reed worked as a financial specialist and program analyst at the PHDC, a community development organization that offered housing assistance to Philadelphians, including rental assistance, grants to first-time home buyers, investments in neighborhood preservation projects, loans to landlords to make improvements to affordable housing units, free home adaptations for low-income city residents with physical disabilities, and funding for affordable housing development projects.

Between July 10, 2024, and February 2025, while she worked at the PHDC, the defendant carried out a scheme to defraud the organization and the city for the benefit of Person 1, by drafting, submitting, and approving four false housing assistance applications, which resulted in payments to Person 1 totaling approximately $14,400.

Reed completed each of the applications with false information, including the names and phone numbers of fake tenants, and created bogus supporting documents, such as a rent ledger which purported to show the dates and amounts of rent payments and arrears for tenants she knew to be fake. Reed also forged the signatures of the fake tenants on agreements, affidavits, and notices submitted with the four fraudulent assistance applications.

This case was investigated by the FBI and the Philadelphia Office of the Inspector General and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Nancy E. Potts.