SCOA Problems Still Persist

CROCKETT - Despite having parted ways with Houston County, the Service Center for Older Americans of Houston County (SCOA) is still experiencing problems.

The non-profit organization was responsible for operating and administering programs at the Houston County Senior Citizens Center until funding issues prompted SCOA officials to cancel its agreement with Houston County at the end of May last year. Now two former employees of the SCOA have come forward alleging they were never paid after February 2011.

“February of 2012 will be one year since we received a paycheck. They were two months behind paying in May. We still haven’t received anything. We’ve contacted the Labor Board, the local police department, the federal Labor Board and the District Attorney,” said former employee Neatis Montgomery. “According to the time sheets I turned over to the Crockett Police, I’m owed $2,400. I know that all together, they owe the 10 employees that worked there over $20,000. The way it’s looking now, we’ll probably never see the money they owe us. They need to face the consequences for what they’ve done.

“We’re not the only ones that got ripped off,” Montgomery continued. “William George, Crockett Farm and Fuel, Brookshire Brothers, Wal-Mart all got ripped off. That last month of work, we didn’t have no gas to cook with. The phones got turned off and the vehicles got repossessed. It looks like somebody, somewhere would stand up and say this is wrong. It’s a matter of principle. I don’t ever expect to get our money, it would be nice to, but I don’t ever expect it to happen - it’s been too long. If we do, it will be a shock to me. It’s pure corruption and everywhere we’ve turned it’s like walking into a wall.”

Both former staffers said they are worried about receiving their W-2 forms so that they can file their taxes.

“I talked to (former SCOA director) Glenna Enos and she said she didn’t know. I’m concerned that they are going to show that we paid taxes on money we never received. Glenna told us that Jesse Stephens would be doing the W-2 forms. I saw Jesse in Wal-Mart and he said to give him a week until the forms came in,” said the second employee, who wished to remain anonymous.

In a phone interview with Randy George of the William George Company, Inc. he said, “It’s just a bad situation. We don’t know what’s going on. We know that they (SCOA) were given money from DETCOG to buy food. We know that we were supplying them with food and we know we didn’t get our money. They kept asking us to please not cut them off. They said they had grant money coming in and that as soon as they got that, they would pay us. Somebody took that money. Now we’ve heard that that entity has been done away with and they have no money.

“Their main character is pleading the fifth with our lawyers,” he continued. “We don’t understand why the D.A. isn’t prosecuting this. Somebody stole that money - lots of money. We don’t know why, but we’re still investigating, too. They owe us $80,000. We have been told that they owe others as well. We’ve been told they owe a bunch of money to their employees for back wages. All I know is that they owe $70,000 that I had on the books plus $10,000 in bad checks they couldn’t honor. Houston County needs to know what happened to that money and the somebody that took that money has done something with it and they need to pay some restitution. Our lawyers are working on it but we’re pretty frustrated with it.”

In a separate conversation regarding the W-2 forms, Stephens said, “The last half of last year, which is July 1 through Dec. 31, the county actually did those. The first half of last year, we have not come up with those. We were attempting to locate the records and help them put the W-2 stuff together, but we have not been able to obtain any records (from the SCOA) at least as of yesterday. They should get a W-2 for the second half of the year, but the first half is still in limbo.”

Houston County District Attorney Donna Gordon Kaspar said, “We are still investigating. We have subpoenaed a bunch of records and began to look through them and realized that it was just too voluminous.”

She added the county doesn’t have the resources to pour through all the documentation and that her office is exploring the possibility of hiring a forensic accountant to assist in the investigation.

Regarding the employees’ pay, Kaspar said, “I don’t know if that is a criminal matter or not. That is part of the investigation. It would be a criminal event if they knew there was no money and got them to work knowing they weren’t going to pay. As far as if they were just mismanaging the money and a check bounced, that is not necessarily a crime. It’s something they can be sued for, but not filed on criminally. That’s what we’re working on and trying to determine.”