Digital Scholarship and Initiatives

The county’s investigation into the alleged failure of the Robeson County Housing Authority to follow federal procurement policies has unearthed several instances of conflict of interest, according to Robeson County Attorney Patrick Pait, who is heading the local investigation into mismanagement of federal funds. These cases include two employees working for the authority who are related to county commissioners, an employee related to the authority’s recently suspended director, and an employee directly related to the authority’s maintenance director.

The cases were brought to the attention of Michael A. Williams, director of the Office of Public Housing for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s field office in Greensboro, in a letter from Pait on August 7, 2014. As a result of the investigation, the Robeson County Housing Authority Steering Committee has been disbanded. The committee was made up of four county commissioners: Raymond Cummings, Roger Oxendine, Hubert Sealey and Lance Herndon, whose districts house the four public housing complexes managed by the authority. The committee operated until August 4, 2014.