If you live in Prince George’s County, you may have heard about the recent indictment of the former Deputy Director of the Prince George’s County Housing Authority, Carla Carter, but you likely have not heard mentioned her connections to both the former and current county executives.
Carla Carter worked as the Deputy Director of PG’s Housing Authority from July 2007 to February 2012, including five months in 2008 when she was the acting director. While in a position that allowed her to influence housing programs, from October 2007 to December 2012, Ms. Carter & her husband Raymond received over $109,000 from the HUD run Section 8 housing program for rental properties they owned in Bowie & Capital Heights. According to the DOJ press release, Ms. Carter also got a DHCD employee to change the documents pertaining to the properties, making them seem to be owned by an unnamed co-conspirator. Together with her husband, Ms. Carter caused payments from the Section 8 program to go to the unnamed co-conspirator, who would then turn the funds over to the Carters.
Besides all of that, Ms. Carter also knowingly filed false financial disclosure statements in 2008 and 2011, hiding her ownership of said properties. This is not the first time Ms. Carter has had trouble with financial disclosure forms. In 2005, there was a case brought before the DC Board of Ethics when Ms. Carter, in her capacity as the Chief Financial Officer of DC, failed to file her final financial disclosure statement in a timely manner after she left the position in 2004. In that instance, she did eventually file the paperwork, and the Ethics board dismissed the case.
Ms. Carter was hired to the PG Housing Authority at the height of the very corrupt Jack Johnson administration. The former County Executive is currently behind bars for running a pay-to-play scheme with developers, among other things. Most will remember the arrest of Mrs. Leslie Johnson because she stuffed about $79,000 in her underwear as the FBI broke down her door, in a vain attempt to hide the money. Besides the pay-to-play scheme, Jack Johnson was also known for his cronyism. According to WaPo, the former County Executive placed Ms. Carter on several community advisory committees.
Jack Johnson was busted in 2011, leaving PG County in the hands of the newly elected Rushern Baker III. In March, and again in June of 2011, when it was clear that Johnson was in trouble, Ms. Carla Carter donated a total of $185 dollars to Rushern Baker’s election fund. These donations are during the time that Ms. Carter was defrauding the Section 8 program. As of this writing, Ms. Carter’s name is listed on Rushern Baker’s website as a donor. The information about the donations was easily found on Maryland’s Campaign Reporting Information System website.
