A Glenburn woman pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Portland, Wednesday, to embezzling from an organization receiving federal funds and conspiring to alter money orders.
Kelly Ballinger, 57, was a property manager for a Portland apartment complex with units funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to court records cited by the U.S Department of Justice in a news release.
From about December 2017 to June 2021, Ballinger stole rent payments made by tenants in the HUD Housing Choice Voucher Program. She would tell the tenants to pay their rent with a blank postal money order, then would write her name or the name of fellow employee Kathleen Conway, 70, on the payee line along with a note such as “groceries” on the memo line to suggest the payments were reimbursements, according to the DOJ.
Conway pleaded guilty to embezzlement on August 2, 2023, and is awaiting sentencing.
Additionally, Ballinger would disguise the shortfalls by understating the tenants’ income, sometimes to as low as $0, to cause HUD to pay a larger share of the rent.
Ballinger faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on the embezzlement charge and up to five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 for altering postal money orders. The court may also order Ballinger to pay restitution to HUD, according to the DOJ.
