RICHMOND — The previous co-chair of the Richmond LAND board has been accused of embezzling as much as $205,000 from the group, in accordance with the nonprofit’s government director.
Randy Joseph, who served as a Richmond LAND board member from 2021 to 2024, has been accused of signing off on checks to himself price between about $79,000 and $205,000, in accordance with a public assertion by Govt Director Princess Robinson.
Within the assertion, Robinson mentioned she found on Sept. 5, 2024, that Joseph allegedly wrote, signed and cashed a number of checks from Richmond LAND’s checking account with out approval between January 2023 and September 2024 whereas performing as board president.
Robinson, who grew to become government director in late June 2024, mentioned she requested that Joseph resign and repay the misplaced funds instantly after making the alleged discovery. A police report was additionally filed and the alleged embezzlement was reported to all required regulatory our bodies, she added.
The general public disclosure of the alleged monetary misdeeds, about eight months after they have been reportedly found, allowed the group time to “take appropriate action before making this information widely available,” Robinson mentioned.
“As the new Executive Director, I believe it is essential to acknowledge this matter and reaffirm our commitment to integrity, accountability, and long-term sustainability of our organization,” Robinson mentioned in an announcement. “While this has been a difficult chapter for Richmond LAND, my focus remains on ensuring accountability, learning from past challenges, and strengthening our organizational foundation.”
Since taking her position, Robinson mentioned the group has welcomed a brand new crew of staff “dedicated to analyzing and improving our internal systems,” and applied a brand new complete monetary coverage with safeguards and processes in place to forestall comparable monetary misconduct from reoccurring.
Joseph didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
He has been linked to different Richmond-based neighborhood teams. As of Monday, he was nonetheless listed as a crew member for Reimagine Richmond, a coalition advocating for different approaches to neighborhood policing. By Tuesday, Joseph not appeared on the web site. The group declined to touch upon the allegations.
The Ryse Heart, a nonprofit offering a wide range of youth providers and programming, didn’t reply to a request for remark. Joseph’s LinkedIn states that he’s a Housing Justice program supervisor there and has labored for the nonprofit for practically 4 years.
Joseph additionally served on town’s Neighborhood Police Overview Fee from October 2020 to June 2024.
Lt. Donald Patchin confirmed a police report with Richmond LAND listed because the sufferer was filed with the Richmond Police Division however was unable to supply further data as a result of the report continues to be beneath investigation.
Richmond LAND’s 2023 Kind 990, filed Dec. 10, 2024, signifies that Joseph was accused of embezzling about $79,000 that 12 months. These funds had not but been recouped on the time of submitting, in accordance with the tax doc.
Joseph first seems in Richmond LAND tax filings in 2021 and is listed as a board member who labored about 5 hours every week and didn’t obtain compensation. The identical goes for 2022, in accordance with that 12 months’s Kind 990.
By 2023, Joseph reportedly labored about 20 hours every week and was compensated $95,460 that 12 months, in accordance with Richmond LAND’s 2023 Kind 990. However workloads for nearly all board members had jumped that 12 months as staffing had decreased, in accordance with Robinson’s assertion and the nonprofit’s tax paperwork.
Board members Elissa Roy labored about 15 hours every week and was compensated $22,000 that 12 months and Alex Acuna was paid $18,000 that 12 months for working about 15 hours every week. Board Co-Chair Sasha Graham labored about 10 hours every week and was paid $18,000. And Board Treasurer Leslie Lindo was paid $16,500 for a mean of about 10 hours of labor every week. The one member not compensated was Secretary Regina Celestin Williams, who labored about 5 hours every week.
Regardless of a staffing decline, the sum of money going towards workers salaries, compensation, advantages, payroll taxes and costs grew considerably between 2020 and 2023, in accordance with the nonprofit’s tax filings.
In 2020, the group’s complete income was $869,635 whereas complete bills have been $200,963. Of these bills, $5,600 was for compensation that was allotted to 2 members, one other $111,235 was spent on different salaries and wages, $8,385 was spent on worker advantages and $9,621 went to payroll bills.
By the tip of 2023, Richmond LAND had introduced in nearly $1.5 million in complete income and spent $808,942, of which $304,856 went to worker associated bills – principally compensation. Charges for providers totaled greater than $311,000 in 2023 in comparison with the $48,645 spent in 2020.
A overwhelming majority of the Richmond LAND’s funding 12 months over 12 months has come from non-governmental grants, in accordance with their Kind 990s.
The Contra Costa County nonprofit purchases residential properties and places them in a belief to maintain rents low and finally switch possession to the folks dwelling there. The trouble is an try to forestall growth corporations from shopping for buildings and elevating rents.
Up to now, one such property has been preserved by Richmond LAND, a triplex on South twenty fourth Avenue.
The nonprofit was additionally a part of a coalition of neighborhood teams engaged on the North Richmond Neighborhood Resilience Initiative, a set of tasks meant to enhance inexperienced infrastructure, housing and mobility choices.
Contra Costa County was awarded a $19 million federal Neighborhood Change grant from the Environmental Safety Company in 2023 to fund the initiative however was knowledgeable in Might that the grant was being revoked beneath the Trump administration.
