Former Miami-Dade tax collector arrested for 'FORGED INSTRUMENTS'

Former Miami-Dade tax collector arrested for fraud

South Florida Business Journal

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The county’s Office of the Inspector General said Kenneth Arthur Ferguson, a former employee of the Miami-Dade County Finance Department, Tax Collector’s Office was arrested July 13. He was charged with one count of organized scheme to defraud, a second-degree felony; 11 counts of forgery; and 11 counts of uttering a forged instrument, third-degree felony charges.

The OIG investigation found that Ferguson, a tax records specialist II whose duties included collecting and processing tax payments from the public, forged his supervisor’s signature on employment verification forms and altered payroll statements in order to qualify for low-income housing.

Ferguson’s scheme was first discovered when an income verification form with the forged supervisor’s signature was inadvertently intercepted by an employee at the fax machine and placed on the supervisor’s desk. Upon seeing the document, Ferguson’s supervisor immediately realized her signature had been forged. The OIG was called to investigate the alleged misconduct.

The OIG found that Ferguson not only forged his supervisor’s signature on verification of employment forms, but also fraudulently altered payroll statements, which are official public records, to demonstrate a lower income. Ferguson’s actual income was higher than the qualifying limit for the reduced rent. From 2005 through 2009, the fraud garnered Ferguson $37,944 in rental housing benefits he was not qualified to receive.

“Forging documents to qualify for special poverty programs feels much like a crime against the poor,” Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said. ” In reality, it is a sad crime against every person living in Miami-Dade County.”

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