2000s

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

Roqueta said that in addition to Alfonso installing the pavers, a crew of homeless clients used a Camillus truck to deliver them.

"I know nobody was paid anything for that, " he said.

Simpson declined to discuss specifics of the pavers project, but did say, through his attorney, that he regularly gave donated vehicles to former clients in need.

Camillus House has no record that any other donated vehicles were given away in the last four years. The vehicles are used by Camillus, sold to clients or sold by sealed bid to Camillus employees, Pardo said.

* Simpson had charge of an eight-unit Camillus apartment building called St. Jude, handpicked the tenants and set the rent outside the purview of Camillus policies, said Karen Mahar, Camillus director of program development.

Among the tenants: at least four employees and former clients who did work at Simpson's home. Rafael Concepcion - a Camillus plumber who told The Herald he built Simpson's deck, helped install pavers and did the plumbing work on the kitchen remodeling - stayed at St. Jude rent-free, records show.

"Everyone else in Camillus housing has rules, " Mahar said. " A third of their income goes to pay the rent." Concepcion has been told he will have to start paying rent. All other tenants were told their rent is increasing and the building will be run according to Camillus rules.

"He gave me trust when no one else did, " Concepcion said of Simpson. "But I don't feel sorry for him. He knew what he was doing."

Willie Walker, another maintenance employee, said Simpson once contracted with him to install a central air-conditioning system on a weekend - on his own time - for $1,500. But he said he did as much as $2,000 in electrical work at Simpson's home on charity time.

"Anybody that would use Camillus employees to their advantage like that, to me that's stealing, " Walker said. "But what was going through my head was staying loyal and keeping my job."

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Miami Herald

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