HOUSTON – Two men who were convicted of conspiracy and wire fraud in a case concerning stolen money destined for homeless veterans were sentenced to federal prison Thursday.
The Department of Justice said Darrell Demond Arline, 37, a former Goodwill program manager for the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) grants, recruited his friend, Aaron Matthew Pierce, 37, to cash fraudulently issued SSVF grant checks.
Arline issued the checks to Pierce by saying Pierce was providing emergency housing assistance to veterans and their families who were homeless or about to be homeless, the DOJ said.
Arline and Pierce engaged in the conspiracy to steal money from the grant from Jan. 3, 2012, to Aug. 28, 2014, by submitting fraudulent purchase orders.
The DOJ said the SSVF grants were supposed to provide low-income veteran families who were residing in permanent housing, were homeless and scheduled to become residents of permanent housing within 90 days, or were seeking other housing for low-income veteran family's needs.
Pierce was convicted on Nov. 14 and Arline pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 14 counts of wire fraud.
Pierce was sentenced to six months in federal prison and ordered Thursday to pay $18,016 in restitution.
Arline was sentenced to 48 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $316,512.13 in restitution.