Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced Friday, March 27, that a former employee of New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA)’s Throggs Neck Houses was indicted on grand larceny, receiving (a) bribe(s), and other public, corruption-related charges for allegedly defrauding people of more than $20,000 by falsely claiming he would secure them better apartments for them.

 

“This defendant allegedly used his position as a NYCHA employee to convince NYCHA tenants and other people to give him money in exchange for securing a Section 8 Voucher,” said Clark. “As a result of this defendant’s greed, seven hard working New Yorkers were allegedly scammed out of more than $20,000.”

Created by the Housing and Community Development Act of 1978, the Housing Choice Voucher program, also known as Section 8, provides assistance to eligible low and moderate-income families to rent housing in the private market. Eligibility for this program is based on a family’s gross annual income and family size.

 

NYCHA receives Section 8 funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and processes payments to landlords within one business day.

 

NYCHA administers the largest Section 8 program in the country. Approximately 85,000 Section 8 vouchers and over 25,000 owners currently participate in the program.

 

Acting NYC Department of Investigations (DOI) Commissioner Chris Ryan said NYCHA housing assistants have a responsibility to work closely and honestly with potential tenants to assist in finding a suitable unit to rent. “Instead, as charged, this defendant used his access and position to accept thousands of dollars in bribes, taking advantage of vulnerable housing applicants and NYCHA residents to enrich himself,” Ryan said.

 

“DOI wants all New Yorkers to be aware that NYCHA does not charge or request a fee in connection with applying or processing an application for public housing or Section 8 rental units,” he added. “If you receive a request for payment from anyone posing as NYCHA personnel, report it to DOI’s NYCHA Inspector General at 212-306-3355. I thank the complainant who reported to DOI the allegations that led to this indictment, NYCHA for its collaboration on the investigation, and the Bronx District Attorney’s Office for its partnership and commitment to protect precious public housing benefits and the integrity of the public housing system.”

 

The district attorney said the defendant, Jose Lopez Molina, 47, of Newington, CT, was arraigned on March 25, before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Pamela Goldsmith on multiple counts of third-degree grand larceny as a public corruption crime, fourth-degree grand larceny as a public corruption crime, third-degree grand larceny, fourth-degree grand larceny, third-degree bribe receiving, first-degree scheme to defraud, first-degree forgery, second-degree forgery, third-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument and official misconduct.

 

According to the investigation, Molina was employed as a housing assistant at the NYCHA Throggs Neck Houses on Schley Avenue. Prosecutors said that between August 2023 and April 2025, he allegedly approached multiple people, both tenants and non-tenants, about assisting them in getting either a Section 8 voucher or NYCHA housing ahead of other applicants in exchange for money. They said fifteen victims were identified, and Molina is charged with victimizing seven of them.

 

The court heard that he allegedly forged Section 8 vouchers, presented them to the victims as legitimate vouchers, also allegedly provided addresses and apartment numbers to some of the victims, and indicated that they were approved to move in, causing them not to renew their current leases. Prosecutors said Molina also allegedly led some NYCHA tenants to believe that they could settle their back rent by paying him a fee.

 

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Hailey Lonsford of the Public Integrity Bureau, under the supervision of Cassie Perez, supervisor of the Public Integrity Bureau, Sarah Clements, deputy chief of the Public Integrity Bureau, Jon Veiga, chief of the Public Integrity Bureau, and under the overall supervision of Denise Kodjo, deputy chief of the Investigations Division and Wanda Perez Maldonado, chief of Investigations Division.

 

Clark thanked NYC Department of Investigation’s Investigator Enio Bencosme, JP Gueli, HUD agent, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s New York office for their assistance with the investigation. She also thanked the Newington Police Department for their assistance in apprehending the defendant.

 

Molina is presumed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.