Homeless director accused of pocketing donations

March 18, 2013

Dee Torres-Hill

KEEPING THEM HOMELESS

By KAREN VELIE, JOSH FRIEDMAN and DANIEL BLACKBURN

(Editor’s note: This is part of an ongoing series about San Luis Obispo County Homeless Services and the nonprofits managing the program.)

Homeless Services Coordinator Dee Torres routinely took gift cards intended for the needy and homeless for her own use, a number of former homeless service employees and ex-boyfriends say.

Torres kept the gift cards in her purse to use for family outings, gas, restaurants and Christmas presents for her friends, Ralph Almirol, the father of Torres’ middle child, said. Almirol said they especially enjoyed gift cards from Tom’s Toys on Higuera Street.

“We would give them to the kids,” Almirol said. “She used them like they were hers.”

Torres’ Homeless Services program comes under the umbrella of Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo (CAPSLO). Employees of both the Prado Day Center and the Maxine Lewis Shelter say that every Christmas, the homeless are remembered by the public with thousands of dollars in gift cards being donated for gas, groceries, restaurants and retail stores. All such donations are to be given to the homeless.

Almirol asked Torres about the cards and the homeless who were supposed to receive them, he said.

“People would give a lot of gift cards,” Almirol said. “I asked her once if she could get in trouble, she said there was no accounting for what is given, and most of them don’t deserve it.”

Other former boyfriends confirmed the allegations, though they wanted to remain unnamed because they are afraid that Torres or government officials will retaliate. Torres is engaged to San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Adam Hill. At least one of Torres’ former husbands relied on his marriage to her to obtain legal resident status, CAPSLO staffers and Almirol said.

Friends of Prado President Roy Rawlings and Torres did not respond to comment requests.

Workers at the homeless shelters said that apart from the rare occasion when a client would do chores such as painting an office, the cards were not provided to the homeless.

“We never saw the gift cards given out,” said Kathy Marti, a former three-year employee of CAPSLO. “Once the gift cards came in she would take them.”

Marti said she quit in 2010 after battling for better treatment of the homeless.

“I was so disillusioned because I never saw any progress,” Marti said. “When I first started working there I loved it, I felt I could move heaven and earth.”

More than a dozen former and current employees of CAPSLO said that Torres refused to give donated goods to the homeless unless they would do chores for her.

“There was so much stuff coming in,” said Carina Salazar, a former CAPSLO employee. “There was all kinds of stuff donated. A lot of stuff got tossed. We went over to the (CAPSLO) main office to complain, but no one would listen.”

Almirol said Torres would divvy up the best donations for family and friends.

“We would go through the donations and pick out the best toys for our kids,” Almirol said. “She would give other stuff to her friends.”

Employees and clients also question CAPSLO’s rule that homeless individuals must provide 50 to 70 percent of their income to CAPSLO in order to guarantee a bed at the shelter.

Richard Walker and his family turned to CAPSLO after they became homeless. CAPSLO required the Walkers, who were on welfare, to pay about $500 a month in cash to the family’s case manager, Walker said.

Despite paying CAPSLO approximately $500 a month, the Walkers still struggled to get necessities, such as baby diapers, from Torres, he said.

“We had to fight with them to buy things for our baby like diapers or rash cream,” Walker said. “We told Dee (Torres) we needed diapers. She told us to get diapers through them, but she would only give us three at a time and then she would get angry when we asked for more.”

After spending about a year and a half in the shelter on case management, the family decided to cancel so they would have enough money to purchase diapers and other necessities, Walker said. But Walker said his family did not receive all of the money they had signed over to case management.

“She gave us most of our money back in a check. She kept the $25 a month they charged us for holding on to it,” he said.

By opting out of case management, the family chose to take their chances on getting beds each night at the Maxine Lewis Homeless Shelter.

CAPSLO requires clients at the Maxine Lewis Homeless Shelter to be waiting outside by 5 p.m. though they may not enter the shelter until 6 p.m. Homeless clients not on case management draw a ticket out of a bucket for a chance to stay the night.

One night, the Walkers drew the right number, but CAPSLO staff told them they still could not stay at the shelter because their eight-month-old had pink eye, Walker said. They asked Torres to provide them a motel voucher. But Torres told the family they could not stay in a motel because they had a car in which to sleep.

“She said ‘no hotel, you have a car,’” Walker said. “Then she gave a hotel room to a man who had just had Lasik surgery.”

Joette Sunshine, a four-year employee of CAPSLO who has left her job, said she was working that night and witnessed the events. Sunshine said she was distressed that a family of four with a sick child was not provided a hotel room, while a man who could afford an expensive eye procedure was.

“Part of the deal not to be able to get a hotel room was if you had a vehicle and a certain income,” Sunshine said. “This man had more than $1,200 a month in income and a van. The motel money was there for people who needed it, yet the Walkers were denied a hotel room.”

Several years ago, the Walkers got into housing on their own, though they said that CAPSLO lists them as one of their housing “success” stories.

 

Keeping Them Homeless, the series.


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I just watched the Feb 1 Capslo video RFP for a client intake and tracking software type system for all there departments to use for current and new clients. In answering the vendors questions about there IT needs it became clear that there is no central case management system at this time.


From the RFP: “CAPSLO’s current system for tracking client and program data is a siloed approach specified for a given program.

These individual program’s house this information in separate databases with no ability to

compile data between these resources.

Several homemade access databases tracking child injuries and jobs within our Energy Division

.Other departments track data with various other manual methods.”


No wonder they can’t answer records requests ” various other manual methods”

http://www.capslo.org/menu-rfp/client

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_97aeAgyL0Y


This literally makes my stomach turn.


What a well-funded field day any experienced grifter could have in such a mismanaged organization.


Why did the County fund them, with this lack of accountability and case management?


IT shortfall; true, to a certain extent systems issues are still with us even in this day and age. you would be shocked about the large concerns that have absolutely no idea where they are.


I think in a lot of ways charities were better before the government got involved.


You mean, like workhouses? With Torres’ fetish for only giving donated goods to clients who did work for her, I believe she would be quite happy administering workhouses.


In a lot of ways EVERYTHING was better before the government got involved.


public health and saftey sucks where you are?


Ain’t charity great?


I can’t wait for the Tribune article extolling the virtues of CAPSLO and Family Ties!


I think in the end we are going to discover that the problem is much larger than just Dee Tores and Lise Neisen. The larger problem stems from CAPSLO having grown to a bureaucratic behemoth. I’m sure a lot of very well intentioned people have been involved from the start.


An earlier article chronicled how this organization vacuums up 60 million each year from various local governments. This basically sucks up all the available money for services like this. And thus they are acting as a quasi government body, but with no accountability.


A lot of people pull down some very nice paychecks, but how much goes to the people they are suppose to be helping?


And with no accountability funny thins start happening, like disappearing trust money and gift cards.


CAPSLO is about the most politically connected organization we have locally and it won’t be easy, but we must get the providing of much needed social services back to smaller organizations, closely focused on what services they are providing.


Now I’m all for grabbing the pitchforks and going after the ne’re-do-wells, but lets not lose sight of the larger problem.


Actually, most of CAPSLO’s $60M funding comes from state and federal governments and is specifically designated for Head Start programs they run. I don’t KNOW if they are guilty of either intentional malfeasance or even simply inept oversight with the Homeless Program but I do know that very little of the well-quoted $60M figure has anything to do with it. I often wonder at the accuracy of other claims by people who keep using that figure as if it was primarily for their Homeless Program. Those who imply that Dee Torres is the “Head of CAPSLO” are even less credible.


As we saw with the State’s efforts in the cities of Cudahy, Vernon and Bell, there is much to be said about making examples out of those who enrich themselves by corruption of an agency or city’s finances.


Wow I am frustrated over the Log In procedure. I was trying to Log In to reply to Whyaduck, so I do and it then takes me to page 7 (and allows me to reply) but when I try to go to page 6, it again forces me to “Log in to reply” just to take me back to page 6! IS anyone else having this issue?


My Response to Whyaduck:

There is not one other form of reporting in this county that I have seen that has even mentioned any issues with CAPSLO or Family Ties. With the (sad) Law suit at least word will be out “There is a problem”. Adam is really blowing it! He is only going to bring attention to the entire situation, which is GREAT for the Homeless! People with be curious about what CCN has been reporting! They will investigate! They will read the testimonies CCN has shared here with SO many telling all , with nothing to gain.

People whom may have never heard of CCN will be looking for it! There is so much scepticism, such distrust with our government offices that I believe Hill will only bring the attention that is necessary to end Ms. Dee’s reign of unethical actions! The Tribune has also been untrustworthy. Anyone who has ever known the truth of a situation and then read the Trib’s interpretation, knows how careless and bias they are! Imho Hill coming to the defense of Torres is a PERFECT situation!


” I was trying to Log In to reply to Whyaduck, so I do and it then takes me to page 7 (and allows me to reply) but when I try to go to page 6, it again forces me to “Log in to reply” just to take me back to page 6!”

Sorry about that, if you see “Log in to reply” when you are logged in then please refresh the page. This should remind it that you are logged in.

That’s for the time being and we are looking into the issue.

Again sorry for the trouble.


F5 on windows keyboard refreshes page.


clover leaf/ command R for you mac apple peeps.


Thanks Spork! Refresh worked!


QUOTING SOUTH: “Once again, if true, Hill is in full best defense is a good offense mode. However, the Lombardi tack works best in football, not when politics gets mixed up with criminal behavior. Taking an agressive posture will typically just draw more scrutiny and attention, not less. He is already perceived as a bully and a nest featherer. This will cement the opinion.”


These are the tactics of guilty people.


The donations were given to CAPSLO in trust for the homeless beneficiaries.

Nonprofit organizations keep their beneficiary/client accounts segregated from the organization’s operational accounts.


Painting an office or doing work to benefit the organization should be funded from the organization’s operational accounts.


Using gift cards donated to the organization in trust for the homeless beneficiaries had the effect of using beneficiary account assets for organizational operating account liabilites.


Ok. Why would anyone give this a thumbs down? Does that mean it is okay to misuse funds?


I agree! I’ve been wondering who checks the “thumbs down” on all of these comments. Where are the opposing views? If you disagree why not post your comments?

you know if i was being accused of stealing and mismanaging donations i would be screaming at the top of my lungs and throwing open all of my “proof” that these accusations are false. I don’t think I would be silent and then seek out an attorney because as an honest person this makes one look guilty!


Adam Hill, is that your thumbs down? As I thought, too chicken to respond eh? Oh well, the wheels of justice are moving!


Unfortunately the “wheels of justice” move slowly so that any accused party or parties have the opportunity to defend themselves in the “court of public opinion” to the best of their ability as long as possible prior to any lengthy agency investigation. To date, little if any public defense has been provided!


All the “accused party or parties” have been able to do is dig their collective hole deeper. Sometimes it seems like they are TRYING to make things worse for themselves.


It’s almost never the crime but the coverup that gets them.


Yowzer.


Interestingly, I was reading about Watergate this evening, and noted some similarities between Adam Hill and Richard Nixon.


You wouldn’t be screaming at the top of your lungs and throwing open all of your ‘proof’ if you were guilty as reported.


The worst thing Hill and Torres can do at this point is to attack CCN. They’ve already done that.


The second worst thing they could do was to start offering any kind of ‘proof.’ To offer any more information than CCN already has would be like throwing a seal to a starving shark (no offense to CCN; researching leads can be a real adrenaline rush, once you get past the monotony). Hill and Torres would be basically BEGGING CCN to find out their inconsistencies.


Hill and Torres don’t have a clue how much info CCN has, who their sources are, and how many aces in the hole they are holding back.


So, if Hill and Torres were smart, they would stop acting so guilty. Fortunately, Hill at least isn’t very smart, and he is the one sitting on the Board of Supervisors, so I’m sure he, at least, will continue to unintentionally feed CCN more incriminating hints, as hard as he might be trying not to.


“Cognitive dissonance theory explains human behavior by positing that people have a bias to seek consonance between their expectations and reality.


According to Festinger, people engage in a process he termed “dissonance reduction”, which can be achieved in one of three ways: lowering the importance of one of the discordant factors, adding consonant elements, or changing one of the dissonant factors. This bias sheds light on otherwise puzzling, irrational, and even destructive behavior.”


guess the gift cards weren’t important; they were a tip


BINGO. Great example of a state of cognitive dissonance.


Got to disagree….downplaying the gift cards would be…”lowering the importance of one of the discordant factors”….if you’re going to get heavy here….you need to follow Festinger’s rules…..(Doesn’t make things better by any means).


I wasn’t speaking exactly to Festinger’s take on cognitive dissonance. I was speaking about my own take on cognitive dissonance, as I’ve seen it in action.


But I appreciate your info on Festinger’s view of cognitive dissonance.


So…….with resepct to the stated reactions……it’s not a question of being smart…..it’s a matter of human behavior…….according to Festinger, and here stated in terms that aren’t the subject of a “Word Power” quiz in the Reader’s Digest?


Dissonance reduction can also be achieved by compartmentalizing dissonant factors.


I’m most familiar with this by observing religious fundamentalists who have lost their way, and instead of following the teachings of their deity or leader, instead follow the minister or teacher who is interpreting the deity’s teachings.


Compartmentalizing conflicting teachings (what the minister preaches v. what the deity actually taught) can allow a person to hold both conflicting “truths” in their mind at the same time, without having to resolve the differences.


Indeed, IMO, the GOP’s unholy cleaving to the religious right for political gain, starting in the 1970s, is not only based on cognitive dissonance, it depends on cognitive dissonance.


There are a group of Adam Hill et al supporters who are not in touch with reality. They will give a thumbs down to anything that paints Adam or Dee or Bruce or any other member of their select group in a bad light. It is pathetic but they are the fanatics on the left. They will give this post a few thumbs down as well.


I was tempted to give you a thumbs down just for making broad generalizations. However, the only thing I could say for sure was wrong with your comment is to call them “fanatics on the left.” I don’t think this is a function of political orientation but of moral character. As such, Hill’s supporters may be mostly “leftists” but leftists in general are no more responsible than right-wingers were responsible for giving Dick Cheney a pass on all his evil.


I agree, OTOH. Indeed, traditionally it is liberals who are the pain-in-the-kiester group when it comes to toeing a party line.


Liberals argue amongst themselves about everything. Just try to have a mid-morning meeting to discuss a policy without having at least five phone calls arguing about what kind of pastries will be served.


But that is our strength—because we are not afraid to challenge each other, it makes our party policies stronger. Of course, that is the “truth” for those who believe there is inherent strength in diversity of thought when faced with making a decision or creating policy….a liberal precept.


All of Adam Hill’s supporters, along with Bruce Gibson’s, are not in touch with reality.


Maybe the reality they are in contact with is the reality of needing to continue to make enough money to feed their kids, and not-being-a-supporter is a condition that might end their current employment, making the kid-feeding necessity impossible.


It doesn’t seem like CAPSLO is behind what is going on. It sounds like the problem is the director of homeless services has sticky fingers and a sense of entitlement to any donations that come into the program, “HER” program! It sounds like the workers who have reported made an attempt to report what was happening to CAPSLO but it fell on deaf ears. CAPSLO trusted her, huge mistake from them! My guess is those employees who came forth are the ones who are no longer working for Ms Torres’ program, tell on her you get fired! She has pulled one over on CAPSLO as well as the FRIENDS of PRADO and the COMMUNITY! Ms Torres is a piece of work, she needs to be heading the line at unemployment! Problem solved!! I haven’t seen any accusations from current or former employees of CAPSLO mistreating Homeless, it’s all Dee and her greed!


As the old saying goes, “The fish rots from the head first,” and I believe that is true.


However, if the rot is not cut off in the beginning, the whole body becomes corrupted to the point where a clean sweep must be made.


CCN has sources stating they personally told Biz Steinberg, who did nothing.


Torres didn’t pull anything over anyone. I’m sure even the clients were well aware, after spending enough time at the shelter, of what was going on.


It is very unfortunate that the County Board of Supervisors did not step in and, at the very least, sent out Torres on administrative leave. Instead, they have facilitated her proximity to incriminating records, for such a length of time after the reports of corruption became overwhelming, that Torres very well may have destroyed all documentation that could be used to convict her and her accomplices.


It would be nice if one or two people were to blame but at this point, and after all the complaints and years that have gone by, that’s a little too much to believe. The buck stops somewhere and it’s way above Dee Torres. A full investigation is warranted. While the Board members have their meals catered, the homeless go hungry and sleep in the creek. There are many questions that need to be answered.


I agree that it would be great if this opened up scrutiny to other agencies who provide services to the homeless population.


However, really, there is NOTHING like nailing just a handful…or even just one…of the culprits involved in a very highly visible way.


Every time I see ex-Mayer-Rizzo brought into court, I just cringe. He looks a total mess. He’s gained about 100 pounds at least (no exaggeration). He never was a tiny fellow, but he is a whale now.


For our local example, I’m thinking something on the lines of having Dee Torres, in jail attire, being frog marched into the courthouse, with her hair roots showing and without access to her many stylish accessories and high-end face paint (probably bought by giftcards intended for use by the homeless, anyway), as well as having gained a few pounds because she doesn’t have access to her personal trainer and regular workouts. Then, if convicted, having her get the maximum sentence possible, in the worst women’s prison available…I’m telling you, there would be many women in high places who would put an end to their own corrupt practices.


None of us have time or resources to take on changing homeless services operating around the country.


But we can make a change here, and it will only take arresting and bringing to trial ONE high-profile corrupted homeless-services leader, and making her/him a full-blown, to-the-max example from which other corrupt homeless-services leaders can learn the possible outcome if they don’t follow the rules.


Why r0y said below is absolutely correct. This is not merely a local issue. This issue is widespread and occurs anywhere there are revenue streams of guaranteed public money. The problem is systemic and that is exactly why nothing has been done about it yet. There simply isn’t an expedient process in place to go after this grey area.


In order for charges to be brought for misappropriating funds or fraud, the CAPSLO board would need to initiate actions with authorities. If I walk into a business and tell the police that I saw an employee misappropriating funds, the police are not going to arrest the employee. The most they may do is tell the owner who can then press charges. Of course, since there is public money and trust involved, the CAPSLO board is then accountable to the city. If the officials at the city level do not choose to do anything, then nothing will happen here except they might get voted out of office. However if they DO something and Dee Torres can prove that the CAPSLO board was aware of her activities, then all of THEM will actually be open to charges. They could, and probably would, try and throw her under the bus though. Or, more likely, since there are political careers, board member liability, and criminal charges on the line, the board of CAPSLO will meet with Dee, and then with city officials and no formal charges will be brought. Instead there will be a “reorganization” and the issues will be “addressed.”


There isn’t a lot of precedence set for holding city officials criminally liable for sweeping the misdeeds of others (that are not direct employees) under the rug. But maybe that’s where we should be headed because this is one fish, but there is a whole sea of these fish in every aspect of our political infrastructure. It is dragging us down and preventing us from effectively addressing any of our problems. Organizations like CAPSLO are crowding private charity organizations out of the market, both in terms of funding and in terms of people’s perception that something is already being done about the problem. Ultimately though these organizations seem capable and focused at first, with the flow of public funding they eventually get staffed not be selfless volunteers but by people like Ms. Torres.


So even if nothing happens to anyone in this case and it’s all whitewashed, I think that Karen has performed an invaluable service by demonstrating this issue so that people can really start to see what is going on, and begin to ask the important questions about what is going on around them in a public sphere which is increasingly becoming more of a burden that it is useful.


As slo Fact Finder said in a previous post, the wheels of justice move very slowly.


All we have to do is look at the City of Bell disaster and how long it took before the State Controller opened an investigation.


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