Felton man, Connections counselor sentenced in wire fraud case

A Felton man and former counselor at a local Connections center has been sentenced for wire fraud.

According to court documents and statements made in court, William Brown, age 52, of Felton, Delaware, was previously a job placement counselor at Connections Community Support Programs, Inc. (“Connections”).

During 2015 and 2016, Connections contracted with the Delaware Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (“DVR”) to help that organization provide employment counseling and job placement services to individuals recovering from drug and alcohol addiction.

The federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act provides funding for DVR and sets programmatic goals; DVR receives 80% of its funding through federal government programs.

As part of a multi-year fraud on DVR, Brown submitted falsified client paperwork and created bogus client paystubs so that DVR would pay Connections for completed client services.

By submitting more than thirty false documents over a two-year period, Brown not only caused the payment of excess funds to Connections, he made Connections’ services appear more successful than they actually were and so improved his own job security.

During sentencing, Chief Judge Leonard Stark expressed that the defendant’s “actions contribute to undermining public support in these types of programs.”

Brown was sentenced to 12 months in prison.