LOS ANGELES
The former president and CEO of a Los Angeles-based anti-poverty nonprofit agency was sentenced Tuesday to six months in federal prison for embezzling money from the nonprofit for his benefit, officials stated.
Howard Dixon Slingerland also failed to report these funds on his tax returns and intentionally misapplied more than $600,000 in grant money to pay for unauthorized expenses, according to officials.
U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee sentenced Slingerland, 54, of Studio City.
The judge also ordered him to serve six months of home confinement, pay a fine of $10,000, pay $750,470 in restitution, and serve 200 hours of community service.
Slingerland pleaded guilty on March 8 to one count of conversion and intentional misapplication of funds from an organization receiving federal money and one count of subscribing to a false federal income tax return.
From 1996 until he was fired in September 2019, Slingerland led the Youth Policy Institute Inc. (YPI), a Hollywood-based nonprofit agency that worked to eradicate poverty, eventually becoming president and CEO.
YPI operates in some of the highest-needs neighborhoods in Los Angeles, running programs to support youth education, development, safety, job training, and health and wellness. As the head of YPI, Slingerland had check-signing authority over YPI’s bank accounts and was the personal guarantor of YPI’s credit card.
“Entrusted with the management of a large non-profit organization on which many community members had come to depend, [Slingerland] ignored the rules and used the organization’s money to pay for his expenses, some of which were extravagant, even profligate,” prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum.
In November 2019, two months after Slingerland was fired, YPI declared bankruptcy.
From January 2015 to February 2019, Slingerland caused at least $71,533 of YPI funds to be spent on unauthorized expenditures, including Slingerland’s personal property tax bill that exceeded $14,000; a Slingerland family dinner at an upscale New York City restaurant costing more than $6,000; private tutoring for a family member costing nearly $11,000; and a home computer and software valued at nearly $2,000.
Additionally, Slingerland caused YPI to improperly use the federal grant funds it had received through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, run by the U.S. Department of Labor.
The grant was awarded to support a YPI education and training program designed to prepare young adults in Los Angeles for jobs in growing industries such as construction, customer service, food preparation, and service.
Instead, in July 2019, Slingerland caused approximately $401,561 of these funds to be used for the unauthorized payment of YPI payroll.
That same month, he caused another approximately $201,466 of the federal grant money to be illegally used to pay off YPI’s credit card bill, including expenses Slingerland had incurred.
Slingerland underreported on his federal income tax returns more than $100,000 annually for the tax years 2015 through 2018.
Slingerland did not report the money he obtained from YPI through embezzlement or the value of benefits he received from YPI, including retirement plan contributions, a housing allowance,, and a vehicle allowance. Slingerland admitted to owing the United States Treasury approximately $147,398 in unpaid taxes – not including penalties and interest – for these years.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ranee A. Katzenstein of the Major Frauds Section prosecuted this case.