Federal charging documents presented in the case involving D.C. Councilman Harry Thomas Jr.’s theft of more than $350,000 described the role of several other individuals, including a person depicted as “staff member 1.” That person “previously worked for many years at the Department of Parks and Recreation” and served as “Committee Director” for the Council’s Committee on Libraries, Parks and Recreation and Planning, according to federal documents.
Based on that description, the feds could only be talking about Neil Rodgers.
Rodgers, who went to work last summer for the Committee of the Whole after Thomas gave up his chairmanship, was fired Friday. But he received 12 weeks of severance pay, according to Karen Sibert, a council spokeswoman.
It’s stunning that parting favors would be provided to someone who federal court documents describe as being engaged in the process by which Thomas diverted public money.
Neither Rodgers nor any other staffers has been charged with any crime. But Rodgers has retained A. Scott Bolden to represent him. And, U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen Jr. said last week the Thomas investigation is “ongoing.”
Let’s hope that’s not just rhetoric.
Several government sources I spoke with questioned whether Rodgers and other staffers were really in the dark.
“It’s hard to believe they didn’t know, especially Neil, who prides himself on knowing everything about DPR,” said one government source.
Consider for example that around December 2008,”staff member 1″ submitted a quarterly report to the Children’s Youth Investment Trust Corporation to secure the balance of grant funds, according to federal documents. That report was actually prepared in Thomas’ office at his direction.
It “falsely represented” money had been used for a baseball academy and seven-week camp for children. Actually, other resources were used. For a day camp at Charles Young Elementary School, “Thomas and staff member 1 arranged for the District to issue a contract to a private vendor who was paid $20,000 to run the camp directly” using Department of Parks and Recreation funds.
An audit of CYITC has been requested. Councilman Tommy Wells, chairman of the committee overseeing DPR, asked its director, Jesus Aguirre, to provide, by Jan. 12, details about protocols for grantmaking and transferring funds.
“It’s one thing to say he had intimate knowledge of the workings of DPR. It’s completely false to suggest he had any knowledge that Harry Thomas was embezzling funds from CYITC or the 21st Century,” said Bolden. “That’s nonsense.”
But people I’ve interviewed raised serious questions. For several months in 2006, Rodgers was DPR’s acting director. During that time, Rodgers had a check for $8,500 issued from the agency’s enterprise fund to Evelyn Woolston, head of the recreation assistance committee. That money was listed as reimbursement for expenses related to a fundraiser for Camp Riverview. But Woolston told me, “They had me sign it and give it right back to them.” The money went for a staff Christmas party, according to agency documents.
When Thomas was elected in 2007, he subsequently became head of the committee overseeing DPR. “When it came to the DPR, Harry didn’t make a move without Neil Rodgers,” said another official.
jonetta rose barras can be reached at [email protected]
Jonetta Rose Barras’s column appears on Monday and Wednesday. She can be reached at [email protected].
