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The head of one of the most important operators of homeless shelters in Ny city was fired on Monday as Bronx prosecutors opened a felony investigation into allegations of a protracted pattern of sexual abuse and fiscal misconduct that experienced long gone largely unchecked by his Group and the town.
The manager, Victor Rivera, had assisted discovered the Bronx Father or mother Housing Network, and above two decades had overseen its progress into A significant supplier of housing and companies while the town’s homeless population climbed to file quantities.
The investigation and dismissal of Mr. Rivera followed an investigation through the New York Periods, which found that 10 Gals, like homeless women remaining in his Group’s shelters, experienced accused him of sexual assault and harassment. Two of those women said Mr. Rivera had coerced them into undertaking oral intercourse. Mr. Rivera also applied his nonprofit, the Bronx Parent Housing Community, to complement himself and his loved ones, The Occasions uncovered.
Several hours following the Tale was posted, Mayor Invoice de Blasio requested a sweeping audit of the town’s $2 billion homeless shelter Procedure. The Bronx Dad or mum Housing Network is one of about 70 teams that run shelters for the city.
In an announcement produced on Monday, the board of directors of the Bronx Mum or dad Housing Community mentioned it had fired Mr. Rivera, 60, and condemned what it referred to as his “abhorrent and abusive carry out.” In response for the Occasions’s conclusions, town had now directed the nonprofit to rent a lawyer to evaluate Mr. Rivera’s steps, plus the team claimed it supported the Ladies who experienced come forward.
“B.P.H.N. acknowledges how tricky this needs to be and is devoted to function a resource for their healing, not an impediment,” the board mentioned inside the statement.
Mr. Rivera has vehemently denied any wrongdoing, As well as in a earlier statement explained he had generally addressed women with respect. He called the allegations “unfair, baseless and without the need of benefit.”
A spokeswoman for the Office environment of the Bronx district lawyer, Darcel D. Clark, mentioned prosecutors have been investigating the allegations from the Occasions’s Tale but did not specify if they might look at the accusations of sexual abuse or economical improprieties, which involved Mr. Rivera steering contracts to his associates and entangling his nonprofit with for-financial gain ventures he ran.
“We've been investigating wherever the proof prospects,” the spokeswoman, Patrice O’Shaughnessy, mentioned.
Tim Gilbert, a spokesman for that Bronx Guardian Housing Network, declined to answer certain questions about why the board had not acted faster when accusations mounted towards Mr. Rivera.
“We are wanting into these problems and cannot explore the small print in the intervening time,” Mr. Gilbert reported.
Mr. Rivera’s cure of girls had been commonly discussed within the Bronx Father or mother Housing Community lately, previous staff explained to The Times.
The Corporation paid out a combined $one hundred seventy five,000 in private settlements in 2017 and 2019 to two former workforce who accused Mr. Rivera of sexual harassment and assault, records showed. One of them experienced told the Big apple police that Mr. Rivera slapped her and compelled her to execute oral sex in a shelter where by she labored.
A homeless lady also complained to your New York Section of Social Providers, which oversees shelter operators, about currently being sexually harassed by Mr. Rivera in 2017. But town referred her grievance again on the Bronx Guardian Housing Network, which decided it was unfounded. Along with a former worker despatched a companywide e-mail in 2018, alluding to Mr. Rivera’s abusive habits and said he was quitting due to the fact for a father of the youthful girl, he would “be devastated to realize that she could well be preyed upon by a predator which has leverage more than her.”
Mr. Rivera founded the Bronx Dad or mum Housing Network in 2000 with Others from his church. Due to the fact just 2017, his Corporation has been given $274 million in metropolis funding to operate Virtually 70 web sites of homeless housing.
But as metropolis funding arrived in, Mr. Rivera’s personalized fortunes also grew. He enmeshed his for-financial gain housing providers With all the finances of his nonprofit, steered rewarding contracts to mates and associates, and offered Careers to numerous users of his spouse and children, The Times identified.
A whistle-blower explained to the town Department of Social Products and services about Mr. Rivera’s nepotism and conflicts of curiosity in 2017, and the town placed the group on a Distinctive check out listing. But Mr. Rivera continued to search out approaches to learn himself and his associates, The Times located.
The nonprofit’s board for years was filled with buddies and associates of Mr. Rivera, The Times found. In a past assertion, an attorney with the Bronx Father or mother Housing Network mentioned every one of the board customers with prospective conflicts experienced resigned. During the Group’s early days, the lawyer said, Mr. Rivera had relied on his individual contacts to develop his operation.
The Bronx Mum or dad Housing Community board on Monday named Ululy Rafael Martinez, a lawyer, as its new president.
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