LOS ANGELES—The former president and CEO of a Hollywood-based anti-poverty nonprofit agency has agreed to plead guilty to federal criminal charges for embezzling money from the nonprofit for his personal benefit and intentionally misapplying more than $600,000 in grant money to pay for unauthorized expenses and lying on his tax returns, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Jan. 17.
Howard Dixon Slingerland, 53, of Studio City, has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges of conversion and intentional misapplication of funds from an organization receiving federal money, and subscribing to a false federal income tax return, according to the agency.
He is expected to make his initial appearance in Los Angeles federal court in the coming weeks.
After Slingerland enters his guilty plea, he will face up to 10 years in federal prison on the conversion count and three years in federal prison on the tax count, prosecutors noted.
According to his plea agreement, from 1996 until he was fired in September 2019, Slingerland was the president and CEO of Youth Policy Institute Inc.—a Hollywood-based nonprofit agency that worked to eradicate poverty in some of the highest-needs neighborhoods in Los Angeles with a comprehensive approach addressing education, youth development, safety, job training, and health and wellness.
In these roles, he had check-signing authority over the organization’s bank accounts and was the personal guarantor of its credit card.
From January 2015 to February 2019, he caused at least $71,000 of organization funds to be spent on unauthorized expenditures, including his personal property tax bill that exceeded $14,000, more than $6,000 for a family dinner at a New York City restaurant, nearly $11,000 for a family member’s tutoring and nearly $2,000 on a home computer and software, federal prosecutors said.
In July 2019, Slingerland caused over $400,000 in funds that the nonprofit had received from a federal grant to be used for the unauthorized payment of its payroll. That same month, he also caused roughly $200,000 in federal grant money to be illegally used to pay off its credit card bill, including for expenses he had incurred, according to his plea agreement.
He further admitted that he underreported on his individual federal income tax returns more than $100,000 in income each year for the tax years 2015 through 2018 by not reporting money he obtained from the organization including through embezzlement.
He admitted to owing the United States Treasury a total of nearly $150,000 in unpaid taxes—not including penalties and interest—for these years.
