A report to the D.C. Council released April 27 faults officials at the Children’s Youth Investment Trust Corp. for failing to detect fraudulent expenditures, and claims former D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. may have had help from someone in city government when he stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from the nonprofit group.
According to The Washington Post, which obtained an advance copy of the analysis, the report did not specifically name anyone in government who might have aided Thomas, and appeared to raise as many questions as it answered.
Thomas pleaded guilty in January to using nearly $350,000 of the nonprofit’s funds to purchase an SUV, travel and pay for other personal expenditures. The money had been intended for youth sports programs.
Thomas, who is scheduled to be sentenced on May 3, faces up to 46 months in prison.
The analysis also questioned whether D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray, at the time the council’s chairman, and council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), who headed the Human Services Committee, failed to properly scrutinize Thomas’ relationship with the trust, The Post said.
The trust was created in 2007 by then-Mayor Anthony A. Williams as a quasi-public agency that would manage public and private money designated to help disadvantaged youngsters. That year, Thomas persuaded the Council to approve $400,000 for youth baseball programs, part of a $12 million earmarks package for Council members’ pet projects.