ATLANTA — The Senior Vice President of the Atlanta Housing Authority has been indicted on charges of housing assistance and pandemic relief fraud.
The US attorney’s office says that 61-year-old Tracy Denise Jones used a fake name and shell business to collect more than $36,000 in Section 8 housing assistance money and another $27,000 in small business covid relief funds.
Jones has been an Atlanta housing employee since 2017.
US Attorney Theodore Hertzberg says Jones has indicated that she plans to plead guilty at her next court appearance early next year.
“A long-time senior executive of one of the largest housing authorities in the nation, Jones was entrusted to deliver vast sums of government assistance to our community’s neediest members,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg. “But Jones allegedly exploited a variety of assistance programs and chose to line her own pockets using an alternate identity, multiple business entities, a false affidavit, and a cadre of associates willing to lie on her behalf.”
Hertzberg says some of the charges she faces carry a maximum of 20 years in prison. The Atlanta Housing Authority says it’s unable to comment on an active legal matter.