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Charity used for leader's private benefit

The executive director of Camillus House used his employees and homeless clients to renovate his own homes with thousands of dollars in labor and materials bought on the charity's credit cards, a Herald investigation has found.



ABOUT CAMILLUS HOUSE


  • Founded in 1960 for refugees fleeing Cuba, it quickly converted to a facility to serve the homeless and destitute.
  • Owned and operated by a Toronto-based Roman Catholic order of missionaries who take vows of poverty and chastity. The order reports directly to the Vatican.
  • Annual revenue: $10.1 million, up 50 percent from 1998, when Dale Simpson took over. About half is from federal, state and local grants, and half is from private donations.
  • Camillus House shelters about 651 people each night. Last year, it served 2,156 individuals with 51,420 nights of shelter, provided 405,000 meals and handled nearly 20,000 medical visits.
  • Simpson was the first paid executive director. Prior to 1998, one of the brothers of the Catholic order served as director.

Miami Herald Staff

Neither Simpson nor Marx would discuss workers' allegations about renovating his homes.

Whether or not the charges are reimbursed, Camillus House policy says the charity credit cards are to be used for "company business only, " and any "unauthorized use . . . is grounds for immediate dismissal."

* Roqueta and more than a half-dozen of his employees - and some homeless helpers - said they spent hundreds of hours at a Simpson home: building a wooden deck, remodeling the kitchen, expanding a garage apartment, running power lines underground, painting the house, enclosing and installing an outdoor water heater, repairing a roof leak, and other personal errands ranging from cleaning Simpson's house to taking his pet Doberman, Rudy, to the groomers.

Most of the work at that home was done when the maintenance employees were supposed to be working on Camillus projects and repairs, Roqueta and his crew told The Herald.

And a review of city records also found no building permits for the renovations.

EQUALS 12 WEEKS

But Roqueta - who said he never challenged the work at Simpson's home out of fear for his job - estimated that the kitchen remodeling alone took his employees the equivalent of at least 480 man-hours, or four employees working three 40-hour weeks each. By Roqueta's estimate of $12 an hour, the labor bill for the kitchen remodeling alone would have been $5,760.

In September, Simpson sold his renovated home at 803 NW Ninth Ave. for $275,000 - $125,000 more than he paid for it in 2000, records show. * There may be thousands of dollars more in materials for Simpson's homes bought on charity credit cards that cannot be readily documented, according to Roqueta, two maintenance employees who were issued credit cards, and the charity's chief financial officer.

The Herald found about $7,500 in charges on the same three maintenance credit accounts in which no receipts were submitted by the maintenance crew, a clear violation of the charity's accounting rules. The receipts are missing.

Without documentation, it could not be determined whether those charges benefited Simpson or anyone else.

But maintenance workers Willie Walker and Rafael Concepcion said there are no recorded receipts, in many instances, because Simpson frequently kept them himself.

"I know how much work we did there, and frankly, $4,500 wouldn't come close to covering it, " Roqueta said.

Georgina Pardo, the charity's chief financial officer, said she frequently questioned Simpson.

"I remember going to Dale on numerous occasions to tell him that maintenance wasn't following proper procedure on the credit cards, " she said. "He'd just say, 'Pay it.' "

Pardo said she did what she was told because Simpson was her boss.

* Some of the workers used at Simpson's house received special favors at the charity's expense. Two received rent-free Camillus apartments. And 70-year-old former client Orlando Alfonso received a free Camillus-donated minivan valued at $1,015. The van was given to him two weeks after he installed brick pavers in the driveway of Simpson's new home, 3082 Lime Ct., in December, records show.

EXPRESSED GRATITUDE

Alfonso said he installed the pavers for free out of gratitude to Simpson for allowing him to live in a Camillus apartment at no charge in 2001. "Sometimes I would do work at his house, and he gives me an apartment, " Alfonso said. "I didn't pay rent for three or four months."

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