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Housing Heats Up with Indictments, TV Star's Investigation

NEW YORK CITY-Former Human Resources Administration Deputy Commissioner Deborah Pollock and others have been indicted on charges of stealing as much as $300,000 in welfare housing funds. Hale House is still in hot water, too.

By Betsy Kraat | Updated on April 03, 2001

NEW YORK CITY-There was scandal galore today as several people were accused of participating in a welfare housing scam. The scandal centers around former HRA Deputy Commissioner, Deborah Pollock, a 42-year-old Manhattan-based lawyer. Meanwhile, talk show queen and philanthropist Rosie O’Donnell has pulled the plug on her support of Hale House.

Pollock’ s non-profit group, Community Law Advocates, was formed to advocate on behalf of poor tenants and their families. Pollock and two co-defendants, CLA’s assistant director Marla Lopez and Bronx property owner Eric Gladstein, allegedly used CLA as a front to steal money from a program designed to prevent welfare recipients from being evicted for failure to pay rent.

Pollock, who also secretly co-owned two apartment buildings in the Bronx, would allegedly submit false claims for emergency rent money for tenants in her buildings as well as others with whom she was affiliated in the Bronx. The “social service profiteers” would, in turn, kick back 10% to Pollock and CLA. Pollock’s two apartment buildings, 974 Sheridan Ave. and 1819 Weeks Ave., have been cited for numerous housing code violations.

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