BUFFALO, N.Y. — The effort to accept hundreds of asylum seekers here in Erie County has been dealt another disappointing blow. This time it involves the alleged theft of more than $500,000 in federal taxpayer funding.
That money was intended to cover costs for the Jericho Road agency which handles resettlement efforts.
We are told the suspect in this case, identified as Dejan Karlovic of Amherst, was in federal court Monday morning for an initial appearance on the federal criminal complaint from the FBI.
It's a convoluted case where he is accused by agents of transferring taxpayer-supported federal funding earmarked for asylum seeker assistance programs for his own use.
The criminal complaint represents a betrayal of trust for Jericho Road CEO Dr. Myron Glick who says "It feels hard along with the level of knowing that someone stole from us when we're doing this important work."
Specifically, Dejan Karlovic of Amherst is accused by the FBI of the theft of $574,000 from March to June while he was working as a senior grants accountant for the Jericho Road agency. The non-profit organization provides healthcare through its community clinics but also assists individuals seeking new lives here in the U.S. Some of them are asylum seekers from the southern border who were brought here with some controversy to Erie County hotels last year by the Doc Go agency after overcrowding in New York City.
Glick says "We have a grant through New York state to resettle asylum seekers here in Buffalo. We get an apartment, help them get a job, get them furniture, and so we have multiple accounts with U-Haul and other places and it was across that grant where the money came from."
This hits harder for Dr. Glick considering the accused individual is a former patient and client. "He and his family came to Buffalo as refugees a long, long time ago.">
After an internal investigation, Jericho Road contacted law enforcement. An FBI agent states Karlovic used various online accounts and systems to transfer some of the Jericho Road grant funds to his personal bank account.
Glick says "I'm committed to the hard work of building a strong finance team with all the right controls in place so that this doesn't happen again."
He added, "We're a large organization and we have money in the bank and we have a good financial system and team in place so our operations are gonna continue."
Dr. Glick says he is hoping for eventual restitution and that insurance may help cover the loss of this funding.