LACKAWANNA, NY - A viewer in Lackawanna reached out to 2 On Your Side, asking us to investigate allegations raised at a meeting of the Lackawanna City Council, in which a Commissioner of the Lackawanna Municipal Housing Authority (LMHA) was publicly accused of misusing funds.
"I don't think I did anything wrong,” said John Ingram, the man at the center of the supposed controversy. “I may have done something stupid, but I didn’t do anything intentionally wrong.
Ingram is a Commissioner of the LMHA Board, and also serves as the Tenant Council President at the Glover Gardens apartment complex.
As such he has access to LMHA funds for community events and improvements to the community center at the complex.
Ingram, who has not been formally accused of any wrongdoing, chalked up his recent writing of a check from an LMHA fund to cover his rent as an unfortunate error, which he was quick to rectify.
"I can explain this,” he told 2 On Your Side, saying he wrote the check while rushing between meetings on a particularly busy day.
“I had two checks in my pocket,” said Ingram, explaining that one was a Glover Garden Tenant Council Check and the other was a personal check. “I didn’t even pay attention when I pulled [the wrong] check out and wrote it to pay my rent, and then rushed off to my next meeting. I mean, I’m not that stupid, to purposely take a check that says Glover Garden Tenant Council on it and try to use it to pay my rent…it was just an honest mistake,” Ingram said.
A source at the LMHA says when it was brought to Ingram’s attention, Ingram quickly rectified the situation.
In addition, Ingram’s integrity was called into question regarding money he spent for community functions at the Glover Gardens, with questions raised as to whether purchases he made conformed to rules set forth by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which has oversight of public housing projects.
“Anything we spent on our Community I believe was allowable,” said Ingram. "I think I followed the rules and I everything [purchased] went back to the community, not to me personally.”
At the LMHA offices, Executive Director Mark Kuwik politely declined an interview, but said they have looked into both situations, and, after consulting with their attorneys, will have more to say on Wednesday.
Politics at Play?
“The city council was shocked with the allegation against Mr. Ingram and we thought maybe we’ll try to look into it,” said 1st Ward Council Member Abdulsalam Noman.
“Though he has done a lot of good in the community, I would like to see action taken against Mr. Ingram, after a fair trial,” Noman said.
However, it is also worth noting that Ingram is opposing Noman in this fall’s council election.
“This is true,” acknowledged Noman. “But we don’t want another situation like we had this past year.”
The “situation” which Noman referred to was when Mohamed Albanna was elected to city council, but was ruled by a judge to be ineligible to take the seat due to a prior conviction dating back eleven years for operating an unlicensed money transfer business, for which he received a 5 year sentence.
Lackawanna’s city charter stipulates that a person convicted of a crime is not eligible to assume or continue in "any city office, position, or employment."
While Ingram suggests the allegations were politically motivated, Noman insists the city council is more interested in preventing another candidate from “running under question”
HUD Weighs In
Two on Your Side contacted the HUD Regional office for New York and New Jersey, where it response might bode well for Ingram.
“Mr. Kuwik did bring this situation to HUD’s attention, originally back in May and then more recently last week,” HUD Public Affairs Specialist Charles McNally wrote in an e-mail. “The LMHA took prompt action to address the situation, and HUD has no cause to intervene further unless new information comes to light.”