Ex-St. Clair official's family sentenced in housing fraud case

Relatives of a former St. Clair Housing Commission director who were convicted of stealing government low-income housing money have been sentenced to prison, federal officials announced Monday.

Brian Loren, Ryan Loren and Kayla Loren were sentenced before U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith, records show.

Investigators announced in 2019 that the Florida residents were charged with conspiracy to commit federal program fraud between 2008 and 2016.

The charges came a year after the late-Lorena Loren was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison for stealing hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars while she led the housing commission in St. Clair.

Prosecutors accused Lorena Loren of orchestrating a scheme with the help of relatives, including her husband and son, to spend government money on alcohol, homes and other items.

Loren stole approximately $336,000 in federal funds, including money earmarked for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Housing Choice Voucher program, commonly known as Section 8 housing, which allows low-income families to lease privately owned rental properties through subsidies.

She died last March.

Authorities claimed her husband Brian, son Ryan and daughter-in-law Kayla unlawfully obtained more than $150,000 in federal funds.

All three pleaded guilty in September, weeks before they had been scheduled to face a trial. Brian Loren, 61, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit federal program fraud. Ryan Loren, 36, and his wife both pleaded guilty to receiving unlawful compensation from HUD with the intent to defraud.

On Monday, Brian Loren was sentenced to nine months in prison. According to court records, he conspired with his wife and others to embezzle money from the St. Clair Housing Commission. Loren and another individual also opened a joint bank account at a PNC Bank in Deland, Florida; between 2014 and 2016, fraudulent Section 8 rental subsidy payments were issued, officials reported.

Ryan Loren and his wife were both sentenced to 11 months in prison.

The couple had agreed they received between $40,000 and $95,000 and "like her husband, Kayla Loren admitted that, from August 2010 through August 2016, she made false statements to HUD and to a federal grand jury regarding who lived with her in order to receive improper funds from HUD," investigators said.As part of their guilty pleas, the defendants paid the remaining $99,835.29 in restitution owed to HUD. Some $336,340.22 in restitution was been repaid as a result of the prosecutions.

"The HUD Section 8 program serves some of the neediest in our community, very low-income families, the elderly, and the disabled," U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison said Monday. "We are committed to prosecuting public officials who steal from any federal program and anyone who assists public officials in depriving lawfully-entitled citizens of the vital assistance they need. We are equally committed to prosecuting anyone who lies before a grand jury. Truthful testimony under oath is the foundation of the American system of justice. There will be penalties for those who attempt to erode that foundation.”

The case was investigated by agents of HUD-Office of Inspector General and the FBI.

"Having been trusted to serve the residents of St. Clair as a public official, Lorena Loren instead conspired with her family to steal federal funds for herself and her family, and today that family is admitting their collective role in that criminal scheme,” said James Tarasca, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office. "This case is yet another example of the FBI’s commitment to rooting out public corruption in order to protect the integrity of the institutions that are supposed to serve the best interests of our citizens."