A Queens-based provider of bilingual pre-school special education services was hit by state Controller Thomas DiNapoli in a new audit for improperly spending taxpayer money on fancy cars, a Manhattan apartment, and even a recent hire's funeral expenses.
The audit, set to be released Monday, found that Bilinguals Inc. received reimbursements to help cover the cost of rent on a Manhattan apartment for Executive Director Trudy Font-Padron and her husband, Robert Padron, an assistant executive director, "so they wouldn't be too far from the office," even though the headquarters are in Forest Hills.
Taxpayers also paid parts of the leases, insurance and other costs related to three upscale vehicles - 2009 and 2011 Lexus SUVs and a 2010 Honda CRV - for Font-Padron and her husband, as well as cable TV at their Manhattan apartment, auditors found.
Bilinguals Inc., which has provided services since 1995 to special needs kids ages in New York City and the surrounding suburbs, also wrongly billed governments for excessive compensation for Font-Padron and her husband, employee bonuses, meals and parties, gift certificates, and college tuition for employees, the audit found.
5 comments:
Shame on them, fleecing special needs children. What happened to shame, these people have no shame.
they better keep a close eye on the schools that are in the free pre-k program.
there is certainly going to be graft and corruption,these people have no morals,they see a way to exploit people and grab money and treasure even in something that is helpful to the needy.they can't help themselves.their sense of entitlement trumps the need of the people and children
those two should rot in jail,or at least be made a spectacle in public.its time to bring out the tar and feathers.
The Queens delegation is cut from the same cloth as the library board: money not going to where it is most needed but to the no talent well connected that offer second rate services.
For example, I like how Jimmmy No Brainer is considered a patron of the arts by giving money to a half dozen groups while everyone else is expected to live on scarps.
On a per capta basis Queens is dead last getting a tiny faction of monies for services compared to that which goes to Manhattan or Brooklyn - yet the Queens delegation is treated by the local press with a near divinity status.
Don't forget to audit the regents exams of Townsend Harris and Stuyvesant. Cheating in the bathroom is a common thing during the magnet schools test.
Any time a private (for profit) company is serving vulnerable populations (spec. needs, elderly, and young children) regular and diligent oversight should be mandated. Perhaps that would ultimately cost so much that the state/locals will realize there is no savings in privatization. This crap really took off when Reagan started privatization, and frankly I don't see the savings, but I do see abused workers and clients, and way too many stories like this.
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