By Heather Gann
A former Mobile property manager has been sentenced to 14 months in federal prison for stealing rent money from government-assisted low-income housing tenants, according to court documents.
Filings show that Shannon Caruso, 48, admitted to spending people’s rent checks while working for two government housing authorities that provide affordable housing for low-income Mobile-area residents.
“Caruso admitted that while working for both housing authorities, she fraudulently convinced renters that they needed to make rent checks out to her or to give her their rent checks with the payee line blank,” a release from the U.S. Department of Justice said.
“Rather than depositing this rent money with her employer, Caruso stole the money for her own use.”
The release added that the two housing authorities absorbed the losses due to Caruso’s theft and did not evict any of the renters who reasonably believed they were properly paying rent by giving their checks to Caruso.
