An Arizona woman stole more than $350,000 from Lancaster City Housing Authority after hacking into the computer system of a roofing company that completed work for the organization, according to police.
Patricia Lee Aman, 74, of Peoria, Arizona, is accused of illegally gaining access to the email of a roofing company employee and adding her bank deposit information on a contract with the housing authority to replace the roof on an authority-owned property. When she got the funds, she converted them into cryptocurrency and tried to distribute them, according to police.
Police charged Aman on Tuesday with a felony count of forgery and six related charges. Charging documents say police are getting an arrest warrant. Aman does not have a lawyer listed on her docket.
Lancaster city police said the housing authority and Mifflin County-based Midstate Roofing and Coating Inc. had agreed to a $353,610 contract to replace the roof on Farnum Towers, 33 E. Farnum St.
The apartment building in the city’s southeast is also known as Lancaster Neighborhood Senior Center, where the authority partners with the Lancaster County Office of Aging and Community Action Partnership to furnish senior citizens with affordable housing.
Authority Deputy Executive Director Beth Detz told police the housing authority was going to pay for the roof with a state grant at the beginning of November, and she arranged for the work over email. An email from the Midstate employee’s account told Detz the company’s banking information had changed and provided updated account details.
Detz told police she had no way of knowing the email was fraudulent, as it was from the roofing company’s account, and sent the money.
About two weeks after completing the payment, Midstate Roofing said it had not received payment and confirmed that the bank account information provided to Detz was not correct. The roofing employee reviewed the emails exchanged with Detz and saw the fraudulent information sent by Aman, according to police.
Midstate Roofing has worked on high-profile projects in the county before, replacing the roof on Lancaster Central Market in 2018. A representative with Midstate Roofing declined to comment.
Detz and authority Executive Director Barbara Wilson said the work has been completed and the balance has been resolved but declined to give more details on the situation.
Police tracked the bank account to a company called Ropats Experts LLC in Peoria, owned by Aman and registered at her address. The company was registered in September, two months before the transaction.
After the housing authority money was paid to her, Aman withdrew $10,000 the same day and deposited the rest in a personal account over the next five days. Aman’s bank called police over the unusual account activity when Aman tried to transfer the money.
Peoria police interviewed Aman at the bank, where she said she was wiring the money via Bitcoin to someone she knew only as Mr. Barbaris. She told police Barbaris had contracted with her to pay employees of her construction management company, Ropats Experts.
Aman told police Ropats completed work on an Alaskan pipeline and she was expecting payment from the federal government so she could pay her employees. Police did not provide further details about the pipeline job.
Police saw messages on Aman’s phone between her and Mr. Barbaris where he sent her a barcode to send him the funds over Bitcoin.
No one answered a phone call placed to a number listed for Mr. Barbaris in the criminal complaint.
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https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/arizona-woman-stole-over-350-000-from-lancaster-housing-authority-in-roofing-contract-fraud-police/article_139b9614-e7ab-11ee-a090-07005a1a07c0.html
