The former CEO of a Hollywood-based anti-poverty non-profit group has entered a guilty plea on embezzlement charges and other federal charges.
According to an official release from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Howard Dixon Slingerland, a resident of Studio City, has agreed to plead guilty to two counts -- conversion and intentional misapplication of funds from an organization receiving federal money, and subscribing to a false federal income tax return.
Slingerland served as the president and CEO of Youth Policy Institute Inc. (YPI) from 1996 through September 2019. The non-profit group worked to eradicate poverty in high-risk areas throughout Los Angeles County, California.
Per the IRS, Slingerland engaged in his embezzlement scheme between 2015 and February 2019. During that period of time, the accused authorized at least $71,533 of YPI funds to be spent on unauthorized expenses, including his personal property tax bill totaling $14,000, over $6,000 for a private family dinner at a New York City restaurant, approximately $11,000 for a family member's school tutoring, and nearly $2,000 on a home computer system.
In July 2019, Slingerland used $401,561 in funds YPI had received from a federal grant to cover YPI payroll. Also that month, he authorized the use of $201,466 in federal grant money to be illegally used to pay YPI's credit card bills, which included many of his own personal expenditures.
Slingerland has admitted to underreporting his income tot he IRS by over $100,000 per year between 2015 and 2018. He owes the United States Department of the Treasury an estimated $147,398 in back taxes.
After Slingerland's guilty plea is officially entered, he will face a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison on the conversion count and three years in federal prison on the tax count.
The date of Slingerland's next court appearance has not been confirmed.
Slingerland's arrest is the result of a joint investigation between multiple agencies -- IRS Criminal Investigation; the FBI; the United States Department of Labor Office of Inspector General; the United States Department of Education Office of Inspector General; the United States Department of Justice Office of Inspector General; and the Los Angeles Unified School District.
What do you think about Slingerland's embezzlement scam?
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