A former District nonprofit leader and minister has been put behind bars for 18 months after nicking more than $150,000 from the affordable housing complex she was supposed to safeguard for the city's needy, the U.S. Attorney's Office revealed on Monday. Rowena Joyce Scott, 71, a political player once at the helm of the Ward 8 Democrats, was found guilty of charges including wire fraud, credit card fraud, and tax evasion, with the sentencing handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Robert L. Wilkins, as per the U.S. Attorney’s Office announcement.
Scott, who had been placed in a position of trust at the Park Southern apartment complex since 2010, exploited her role to embezzle funds and live rent-free while the building, meant to serve as a haven for disadvantaged residents, fell into disrepair and default, and while she was pulling down $260,000 in "salary" over approximately four years, she failed to report this income to the IRS. U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, along with officials from the IRS and D.C.'s Office of Tax and Revenue, laid out the fallout of Scott's actions, which included the incomplete renovations for Americans-with-Disabilities-Act-compliant units and the organization's missing loan payments to the District.
The court also didn’t go light on the post-prison punishments, mandating Scott serve two years of supervised release and fork over restitution to both the Park Southern Neighborhood Corporation (PSNC) to the tune of $153,432.04, and $47,726 to the IRS, complemented by a forfeiture of the same hefty sum as a criminal money judgment. Investigators from the IRS and DC Office of Tax and Revenue alongside federal attorneys were credited for bringing Scott's malfeasance to light, per the statement from the Justice Department.
The Park Southern saga serves as a stark admonition about the perils of putting too much trust in those at the top, as residents were bled dry by one of their own, and all the while, under Scott's watch the organization meant to protect and foster safe, affordable housing for some of D.C.'s most underprivileged citizens crumbled, the case built by a combination of meticulous financial scrutiny by IRS Criminal Investigation, the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue and the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brian Kelly and Diane Lucas, the latter handled the prosecution with the backing of Paralegal Specialist Sona Chaturvedi.
