Neil S. Rodgers, a former D.C. government official, was sentenced Tuesday for his role in the misappropriation of $110,000 earmarked for D.C.’s Children at Risk and Drug Prevention Fund to cover a deficit for the 51st State Inaugural Ball for President Obama’s inauguration in 2009. Rodgers, found guilty of fraud in March, was sentenced to 36 days (served on weekends) plus two years of probation. Rodgers must also repay the entire $110,000 as restitution for his crime.
In 2008, as arrangements were underway for inauguration celebrations, the Washington City Paper reported on former council member Harry Thomas Jr.’s early plans for the 51st State Inaugural Ball, noting that “there would have to be a plan to raise funds for the event, and security and cleanup concerns would also have to dealt with. Thomas says all that will be taken care of; he says he plans to seek private donations to cover the difference between the event’s cost and the revenues raised by the $51 ticket cost.” Donations, however, came up short. Justice Department officials described Rodgers’s role in the misappropriation scheme in a Tuesday press release:
Thomas and Rodgers mischaracterized the ball as a youth event to convince the private-public partnership organization in charge of funding the ball to cover the approximate $100,000 shortfall. That organization used the Children at Risk and Drug Prevention Fund to pay off creditors. The conspirators used “multiple copies of budgets and supporting narratives” to fool the organization into approving use of that fund to pay the remaining bills.
Six others have already pled guilty in cases involving the activities of Thomas, who himself pled guilty to misuse of $375,000 in taxpayer dollars intended for arts and youth programs. Thomas was forced to resign his seat and served 38-months in prison.
According to the Washington City Paper, Thomas said of the ball’s location at the John A. Wilson Building, the D.C. government seat, “Why not use the people’s building for a people’s purpose?” But in the end, both Thomas and Rodgers used the people’s money for their own purposes, a decision that ultimately landed both men in jail.
