A finding for recovery of more than $2.8 million was issued Thursday against the former executive director of the Athens Metropolitan Housing Authority, who was convicted and sentenced to prison in the theft of public resources over a 15-year period, Auditor of State Keith Faber announced.
Records show that the largest volume of spending went toward shopping, including:
- Amazon – 2,086 transactions totaling $163,977.16
- QVC – 3,466 transactions totaling $114,989.37
- Walmart – 515 transactions totaling $87,675.51
- Apple – 1,477 transactions totaling $78,168.81
Other notable expenditures included:
- Over $250,000 in travel, such as cruises, a Disney World trip, a Hawaii vacation with a $3,936 helicopter tour, and a $19,228 Sandals Resort stay in the Bahamas.
- $166,000 in home improvements, including a $73,000 heated inground pool, $36,391 in furniture, a carport, and a flagpole.
- $84,000 in personal debt payments, covering mortgage balances, vehicle and watercraft loans, and a $17,897 trailer purchase.
- $62,460 in dental work
- $28,641.84 in concert tickets
- $11,987.38 in funeral expenses
Authorities say the scheme involved issuing checks directly from county accounts for personal use, with no legitimate business purpose.
The finding against Jodi Rickard included $2,325,395.12 in restitution earlier ordered by Athens County Common Pleas Court and an additional $529,850 identified by the Auditor of State’s Special Investigations Unit.
“These resources were supposed to be used to help struggling Ohioans,” Auditor Faber said. “Instead, Rickard treated the Housing Authority accounts as her own, going on vacations and to concerts, paying off her own mortgage and making improvements to her own home, including installing a swimming pool. It’s beyond egregious.”
Rickard’s crimes are detailed in a special audit released Thursday and available online at ohioauditor.gov/auditsearch/search.aspx.
SIU launched an investigation after state auditors faced numerous delays in attempting to review the Athens Metropolitan Housing Authority’s financial records.
Search warrants were executed at agency facilities in December 2022, with assistance from the Athens Police Department. SIU ultimately determined that more than $2.3 million was taken from agency accounts between January 2008 and December 2022 and used by Rickard for personal expenditures.
Auditors noted, “Due to a lack of oversight by the (Housing Authority) Board to review check listings, bank statements, or bank reconciliations, in addition to a lack of segregation of duties, Ms. Rickard was able to print Authority checks undetected to cover the theft of cash receipts and to pay her personal credit card expenses.”
Rickard was indicted in February 2023. She pleaded guilty in June 2023 to seven felony counts, including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, theft in office, aggravated theft, telecommunications fraud, tampering with evidence, and tampering with records.
She was sentenced to eight to 12 years in prison and ordered to make restitution of more than $2.3 million to the Housing Authority.
She also forfeited her solely held bank and retirement accounts and “all tangible fruits of the crime obtained with stolen money.” She and her husband, who was not charged in the case, also forfeited jointly held property.
To date, a total of $507,296.63 of the court-ordered restitution has been repaid, via the forfeiture of deferred compensation, pension, and personal bank accounts and the sale of her home.
As part of her plea agreement, she will be eligible for judicial release after serving five years of her prison sentence.
SIU worked with agents from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Inspector General and Athens County Prosecutor Keller J. Blackburn, who handled prosecution of the case.
