Through our work to return the Fort DuPont State Park back to the public trust, we have been closely monitoring the Fort DuPont Redevelopment and Preservation Corp which is the company responsible for selling and developing the parkland. Information uncovered last year forced then Executive Director Jeffrey Randol to resign his position. Last month an independent audit revealed that his Site Manager, Peggy Thomas, employed inconsistent/questionable accounting practices which are now under investigation with the Delaware Department of Justice. The FDRPC is responsible for millions of taxpayer dollars each year. Read below for additional details.
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Potential wrongdoing uncovered through an independent audit of the Residential Property Leases at Fort DuPont. Kudos to the FDRPC for proactively terminating the employee and forwarding the audit results to the Attorney General’s Public Trust division for investigation/prosecution.
In reviewing the audit results, these are the points I think are critical.
a. Peggy Thomas, Site Manager, was responsible for the accounting and administration of residential leases and utility payments.
b. Generally, the accounting practices used by the FDRPC regarding residential leases was inconsistent at best, fraudulent at worst.
i. Leases, and the terms thereof, utility payments, refunds, etc. were handled differently among the 19 tenants of the FDRPC.
ii. Supporting documentation and authorizations are missing on some leases and reimbursements paid to tenants.
iii. Some tenants had utilities in their own names and made their payments directly to the service provider. For the rest, utilities were in the name of the FDRPC who received one large bill for all of those properties and then the Executive Director/Site Manager decided how much each tenant paid to the FDRPC. Very high potential for fraud here.
c. Former Site Manager Peggy Thomas and one other tenant, a former employee who was fired and evicted after exposing alleged illegal activity at the FDRPC, did not have valid leases.
d. Some FDRPC employees, including former Executive Director Jeffrey Randol and former Site Manager Peggy Thomas, paid below market rate rent for their residences but the agreement for lower rent was not identified in their employment contracts nor their leases. Calculation of the reduced rate is unknown but likely set by former Executive Director Jeffrey Randol and/or former Site Manager Peggy Thomas.
e. Former Site Manager Peggy Thomas is the only tenant to have gas, sewer, and trash services paid by the corporation, all others, including employees, paid for those services. The agreement to have the FDRPC pay for these utilities was not identified in her employment contract nor her lease.
f. Former Site Manager Peggy Thomas issued “refunds on rent” to tenants who had outstanding balances due to the corporation.
i. Tenant 7 received a refund on August 1, 2021. Tenant 7 was evicted. How could he be evicted without a lease? How could he be evicted if he was owed money back for rent, he clearly was paid/prepaid.
ii. Tenant 8 (Jeffrey Randol) received a $4,000 credit to his outstanding balance on June 27, 2019 with no supporting documentation for the transaction.
g. Jeffrey Randol, former Executive Director, vacated his residence in June 2022 leaving a balance due to the corporation of $11,944.