The Brief
A former Texas city employee has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison.
She pleaded guilty to embezzling over $121,000 intended for a federal homeless housing program.
Another former Amarillo employee was sentenced last year for stealing over $465,000 from the same program.
AMARILLO, Texas - A former employee of the City of Amarillo will be spending time in federal prison after being convicted of embezzling thousands intended to house the homeless.
The former grant manager was found to have stolen over $121,000 from the federal program, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced Wednesday.
Former Amarillo employee convicted
Vanessa Robinson, 35, worked for the City of Amarillo from 2013 to 2024 in their community development department. She was responsible for distributing funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to homeless or near-homeless individuals in the city with housing costs. Instead, Robinson pocketed many of those dollars for years.
Robinson was shown to have embezzled in several ways. Nearly $35,000 was stolen by posing as a program recipient and living rent-free for more than two years, the U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Texas said.
She also filled out fake applications for her family members to get them housing assistance, as well as making up lease agreements and a fictitious landlord to pocket grant money, the court showed.
In all, Robinson caused the program to spend $121,325 on her scams. She pleaded guilty to conspiracy to embezzle from a federally-funded program in March.
On July 22, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk sentenced Robinson to 18 months in federal prison and ordered her to pay restitution of $121,325.21 to the City of Amarillo.
Officials comment on sentence
What they're saying
"These defendants abused trusted positions within the City of Amarillo to steal from federal funding intended for residents experiencing significant financial hardship and homelessness," said Acting U.S. Attorney Nancy Larson. "This breach of the public trust will not be tolerated, and we are proud of our law enforcement partners’ work in seeing justice done in this case."
"The defendants in this case embezzled funds from a program meant to help disadvantaged residents in their area. They abused their positions as city employees for personal gain at the expense of their community," said FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock. "The FBI would like to thank HUD-OIG for partnering with us to hold these individuals accountable for defrauding a federal program funded by taxpayer dollars."
"This sentencing demonstrates our continued commitment to protecting taxpayer dollars and holding individuals accountable for the misuse of federal funds," said Special Agent in Charge Robert Lawler with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG). "HUD OIG will continue to work with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners to pursue those who exploit public trust for personal gain."
Related Amarillo employee sentence
Dig deeper
Another former employee of Amarillo pleaded guilty last year to embezzling from the same HUD program, the U.S. Attorney's release said.
Amy Dixon admitted to stealing over $465,000 from the federal grants, and was sentenced to two years in federal prison in October 2024.
She was also ordered to repay the full amount to the city.
The Source
Information in this article came from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Texas.
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