18388: (Hermantin)Palm Beach Post-Haitian agency documents seized (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Haitian agency documents seized

By Gariot Louima, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 7, 2004



Law enforcement officials seized documents Friday at the Haitian Center for
Family Services in West Palm Beach, apparently investigating allegations
that former managers improperly used agency money, the center's
newly-appointed executive director Wordy Nicolas said.

Nicolas said he met Thursday with West Palm Beach police officers and Palm
Beach County Sheriff's deputies and discussed claims that a former board
director and employees used the agency as their personal bank.

Investigators returned at 10 a.m. Friday with a warrant and asked for
financial records pertaining to checks cut to former board chairman Patrick
Leconte and his brother, Thierry, who was briefly the interim executive
director, Nicolas said.

"It's my understanding they were looking to confirm information that they
already had, to maybe bring charges against the Lecontes," Nicolas said. "My
office is cooperating fully with their investigation."

Mike Edmondson, executive assistant to State Attorney Barry Krischer,
wouldn't confirm or deny the warrant was served on the Haitian center's West
Palm Beach offices. Asked if the state attorney was investigating Patrick
Leconte or anyone affiliated with the Haitian center, Edmondson said he
could not comment.

With a $2.1 million operating budget, the Haitian Center for Family Services
is the largest agency serving the Haitian community in Palm Beach County.

The Children Services Council launched an investigation of the center in
August after a former employee complained of nepotism, fiscal mismanagement
and a breakdown of the agency's governing body.

A CSC review found Patrick Leconte paid his brother's consulting firm, with
which he is affiliated, close to $34,500 over several months. Board members
and employees routinely took personal loans from the agency, the CSC found.
Patrick Leconte wrote himself a $5,000 check, records show. He has not
repaid the agency.

The CSC staff is working with the center to fix its management mess. The CSC
also is disbursing grant money to the center quarterly instead of in a lump
sum at the beginning of its budget year.

Leconte resigned from the board in September. His brother, Thierry, remained
as interim executive director for two months before a newly-appointed board
of directors asked him to leave.

A call to Patrick Leconte's West Palm Beach home was answered by his wife,
Debra, who said he had no comment.

Nicolas said the Haitian center has hired a Broward County law firm to force
Leconte to repay the $5,000 he took from the center.

Formerly the executive director of Adventist Community Services of Greater
Washington D.C., Nicolas was appointed in January. He said the agency is
trying to rebuild after months of gross mismanagement.

"I'm still sifting through paperwork to see if I can put this place in
order," he said.

gariot_louima@pbpost.com

_________________________________________________________________
Let the advanced features & services of MSN Internet Software maximize your
online time. http://click.atdmt.com/AVE/go/onm00200363ave/direct/01/