07-29-04 -- Gomez, Miladys -- Indictment/Arrest -- News Release

Former Perth Amboy Assistant Housing Administrator Arrested for Allegedly Embezzling $400,000

NEWARK - A former assistant administrator with the Perth Amboy Housing Authority was arrested today on an Indictment charging her with embezzling more than $400,000 in federal housing subsidies, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

Miladys Gomez, 37, was charged in a four-count Indictment, which was unsealed with her arrest this morning at her home in Edison by Special Agents of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General. The Indictment was returned under seal on July 21. Gomez is scheduled to make an initial appearance today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan D. Wigenton at 2:30 p.m.

As an assistant administrator of the HUD Section 8 Housing Program in Perth Amboy, Gomez was responsible for printing and issuing federal housing subsidy checks to landlords on behalf of Section 8 aid recipients. The Indictment charges that between April 1, 2000 and Jan. 23, 2004, Gomez used her trusted position (and the access to checks that came with it) to embezzle approximately $407,603 in Section 8 funds from the Housing Authority.

Gomez is charged with four counts of theft from a program receiving federal funds, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. Each count of the Indictment describes an amount of money stolen by Gomez over a nearly four-year period: $73,723 in fiscal 2001; $116,571 in fiscal 2002; $108,279 in fiscal 2003, and 109,030 in fiscal 2004.

An Indictment is merely an accusation. All defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.

Christie credited Special Agents of the HUD Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Ruth Ritzema, with bringing the case against Gomez.

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Defense counsel: Darren M. Gelber, Esq. Woodbridge