The Eagle, Colorado office for Habitat for Humanity has hit the news -- but it's not for the organization's well-known humanitarian work. It is reportedly the victim of a fairly sophisticated fraud scheme by the non-profit company's former construction manager. Sadly, it was his responsibility to ensure that Habitat wasn't taken advantage of by "unscrupulous contractors."

The domino effect of crime began in June 2008. A local man's trailer was stolen from his business. Three years later the trailer resurfaces when he found it on sale -- at an outlet store owned by Habitat. The man's trailer was immediately returned to him. However, that is when things took a fishy twist.

Upon investigation, police discovered the Habitat office had actually bought the trailer for $6,000 from a company called "Encompass," operating out of another Colorado town. Encompass was found to be a bogus company. The company was allegedly linked to a bank account in the construction manager's name. The man also was linked to an additional false company.

Preliminary investigations indicated that both "companies" were being paid for homes that were being built in Eagle. Sadly, the money was traced to the construction manager's bank accounts and none of the money was utilized for Habitat projects.

The construction manager has subsequently been removed from his job. He is charged with stealing over $100,000 from Habitat. He was arrested on a charge of felony theft and is at present, free on a bond of $100,000. If convicted, he could very well spend time in prison, in addition to other penalties.

The negative publicity as well as the prospect of spending time in prison is a degrading hardship. Anyone charged with a white collar criminal offense such as this one, would be well-advised to retain legal counsel, particularly one whose practice is dedicated to criminal defense.

Source: The Post Independent, "Man hired to protect Habitat for Humanity from fraud arrested for stealing $100,000 from the organization," Randy Wyrick, Sept. 06, 2011