63370363
Many residents know Friends of Dickinson Square Park as the current nonprofit that holds weekly cleanups and whose commitment helped to convince the City to renovate the park situated at Fourth and Tasker streets in Dickinson Narrows.
Meanwhile a federal indictment unsealed Sept. 13 brought a different group by a similar name to light.
Since 2002, Robert Mulgrew, a Philadelphia Traffic Court judge since Jan. ’08, and Lorraine Dispaldo, a former legislative aide for state Rep. William Keller, allegedly received a total of $295,000 in Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development grants — a lot of which allegedly was not used as intended — for a group named Friends of Dickinson Square.
“We didn’t know another friends group was operating let alone collecting hundreds and thousands of dollars in grant money,” Robert Tobin, the president of the active volunteer group, which is not associated with the indicted organization, said.
While the park received a $1.2 million makeover that wrapped up in July, the friends group never handled any of that City- and state-issued money, Tobin, who moved to Fourth and Tasker streets with wife Ashley in ’05, said. Its bank account doesn’t even exceed $2,000 at the moment. When it does receive funds, it consists of reimbursements from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and Philadelphia Green.
“Even then, we’re talking $2,000 here, $5,000 there,” he said.
When the Tobins moved to the area, the park did not even seem to have been cared for in a while, Tobin said.
“The state of the park was absolutely appalling — appalling! It just appeared as though it had not been maintained for years,” he said noting the initial cleanup in ’05 removed layers of leaves, as well as unappealing finds, such as drug baggies. “It was in a state of complete abandonment.”
However, the other friends group continued to spend grant money for the park’s upkeep as late as ’09 — even as the other group took on the work. A volunteer, who had been active with the former group in the 1990s, was perplexed as well.
“He, for whatever reason, stopped volunteering,” Tobin said of the man who assists his group. “He thought they went away, too. Everyone did.”
The active organization learned of the former friends group upon FBI agents interviewing its board members in Aug. ’10.
“They quickly realized it wasn’t us, and then turned their sights on all the miscreants,” Tobin said.
The initial friends group launched when an unnamed Second-Street business owner coordinated cleanup and graffiti-removal efforts at the park and applied for nonprofit status in 1999, according to the indictment.
As its vice president between 2002 and May ’08, Mulgrew, 54, of the 1900 block of South Galloway Street, allegedly signed contracts for the state grants to be used for greening efforts and checks for the friends group, with some of the funds supposedly going toward personal expenses and into friends’ and family members’ pockets, according to the indictment. He is believed to have used $46,000 on his truck’s lease and its insurance payments, made a $1,200 charitable contribution to the Two Street 5k Run, wrote checks to himself for thousands more for “unjustified” reimbursements, as well as paid for work boots, a camera, extermination services, cigarettes, waterfall equipment, telephone services and real estate taxes with the grant money.
Meanwhile, as a separate group’s secretary/treasurer, Dispaldo, 58, of the 2500 block of South 13th Street, is believed to have run Community to Police Communications from Keller’s office, 1531 S. Second St. Funds totaling $260,000, which were awarded between ’04 and ’08, were intended to be used to fund mobile phones for police officers and fencing to secure vacant lots, according to the indictment. Dispaldo took over writing checks for the park organization in May ’08, too.
Between the two organizations, the duo allegedly paid $119,933 to Mulgrew’s nephew, Mulgrew’s son and two lifelong friends of Keller even though the grant money was not permitted to be used for stipends or salaries, according to the indictment. The pair, however, reported to the state in required close-out reports, which verify how the funds were dispersed and spent, that they only paid $51,520 in stipends. The pair is believed to have repeatedly claimed the money was used as intended and submitted false reports. Mulgrew allegedly would submit cash gas purchases, including many near his sister-in-law’s Wayne home, and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 98 expenses. Mulgrew supplied Police Communications invoices, which Dispaldo then omitted and supplied duplicate receipts and invoices totaling $105,000 from previous years.
Mulgrew and Dispaldo were charged with 30 counts of mail fraud and one count of wire fraud. Additionally Mulgrew and his wife, Elizabeth Mulgrew, 55, were charged with one count of tax evasion, five counts of filing a false income tax return and one count of obstructing the administration of Internal Revenue laws, according to court records. Dispaldo also was charged with four counts of filing a false income tax return and one count of bankruptcy fraud. Arrested Sept. 13, the Mulgrews are out on $50,000 bail each while Dispaldo posted $25,000 Friday.
Robert Mulgrew and Dispaldo could face a maximum of more than 100 years in prison and about a $9 million fine while Elizabeth Mulgrew could face up to 25 years behind bars and a $1.75 million fine, according to the U.S. District Attorney’s Office.
Contact Managing Editor Amanda L. Snyder at asnyder@southphillyreview.com or ext. 117.
88118706
87334456
