Ex-Pa. Housing Manager Gets 4 Years For $25k Fraud
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A former Philadelphia Housing Authority worker will spend more than four years in prison for extorting $25,000 in kickbacks from two contractors.
Federal prosecutors say 43-year-old Kerri Bizzell was sentenced Wednesday to 50 months in prison.
They say she also pleaded guilty to obstruction for trying to hide the kickbacks from a grand jury.
The September 2010 charges against Bizzell came a week after housing director Carl Greene was fired amid news he used authority money to settle sexual-harassment complaints.
Bizzell managed small renovation contracts for the authority.
Her public defender did not immediately return a message Wednesday.
Kelvin Jeremiah, interim executive director of the agency, said the sentence sends a clear message that "the fleecing of the city's housing authority must end."
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