Ex-Chelsea Housing director indicted again

BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com) -- The former director of the Chelsea Housing Authority, Michael McLaughlin, already serving a three-year sentence in federal prison for lying to authorities about his $360,000 salary, has been indicted on a new charge by a federal grand jury.

The new charge, conspiracy to defraud the U.S., comes from incidents dating back years where McLaughlin allegedly conspired to rig federal housing inspections so that poorly-maintained public housing units in the city would pass muster. The inspections happened in 2007, 2009 and 2011.

The grand jury also indicted James H. Fitzpatrick, the authority's former assistant director for modernization and capital planning, and Bernard Morosco, a New York man hired by McLaughlin to prepare for the inspections, for conspiring to fix the inspections.

Morosco was a certified federal inspector who allegedly told McLaughlin and Fitzpatrick in advance which apartments inspectors planned to look at, so they could be in almost perfect condition for the inspections.

These inspections are used by federal agency Housing and Urban Development to give grants to the highest-rated housing authorities across the country.

Cox Media Group