Three people have been sentenced for defrauding the Section 8 federal housing voucher program in Marietta, according to authorities.
Shantel Bowens, 43, of Atlanta; Debbie Bailey, 41, of Rome; and Babatunde “Babs” Abass, 48, of Mableton, have been sentenced for stealing funds from the program which provides rental assistance to low-income families.
“By stealing funds from the Section 8 program, these defendants deprived needy families of suitable, safe housing,” said U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates.
Bowens and Bailey worked for the City of Marietta’s program that oversees tenant and landlord participation in the Section 8 program, which gets more than $4 million per year in federal Section 8 funding. Abass and a fourth defendant, Tunji “Chris” Imoukhuede, were enrolled as landlords in the program, according to Yates.
In 2011, Bowens began reactivating the closed accounts of former Section 8 tenants. Bowens and Bailey selected tenants who were eligible for the largest Section 8 payments, based on employment and family size, according to Yates. Bowens altered computer records to link these tenants to Abass and Imoukhuede. The falsified records then indicated that the former tenants were now residing in properties owned by Abass and Imoukhuede, who then received fraudulent Section 8 payments. Abass and Imoukhuede kept 40 percent of the funds and withdrew the remaining 60 percent in cash. They gave the cash to Bailey, who split it with Bowens.
The four defendants obtained more than $230,000 during the scheme, which took place from January 2011 through June 2013, Yates said.
Meanwhile, from January 2010 through June 2013, Bowens lived rent-free in Section 8 housing under false pretenses, Yates said. She falsified computer records so that a rental subsidy would be paid monthly to her own landlord, purportedly on behalf of a former tenant in the program. More than $40,000 in Section 8 funds went to Bowens’ own housing.
Bowens has been sentenced to two years and two months in prison and ordered to pay $275,871 in restitution. She was convicted on July 17 after she pleaded guilty.
Bailey was sentenced on Aug. 18 to one year and two months in prison and was ordered to pay $234, 977 in restitution. She pleaded guilty to these charges on May 27.
Abass was sentenced to 10 months in prison and was ordered to pay $80,349 in restitution. He was convicted on these charges on June 11 after he pleaded guilty.
Tunji Imoukhuede was arraigned on Sept. 17.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the City of Marietta, and the Marietta Police Department.
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