A mother and daughter have been charged with stealing more than $280,000 that was supposed to be used to help some of the District’s blind residents get a chance to earn a living.
Barbara Stevenson-Jones, 70, and her daughter, Pamela R. Stevenson, 51, owned Wellness, a city contractor given hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to recruit, train and support blind people who had obtained food vending licenses.
Prosecutors charged in an indictment unsealed Friday that the pair instead diverted money into their own accounts and used it on themselves.
The money included funds given to them by the blind vendors that was supposed to be used to repair and maintain equipment, prosecutors alleged in court documents.
The money was originally provided through a block grant by the U.S. Department of Education. The District’s troubled Department of Human Services was supposed to supervise the funds.
The city canceled the pair’s contract in 2004 — not because of the stolen money but because of “nonperformance” of contract duties, according to Friday’s indictment.
If convicted, Stevenson-Jones and Stevenson could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
