A former Jacksonville Housing Authority employee faces a charge of exploiting an aged adult after an investigation found elderlyCentennial Towers residents wrote money orders to pay their rents only to have an employee working at Centennial direct the money into a personal account.
The scheme deprived the residents of more than $10,000 between May 5, 2021, and April 8, 2022, according to a charge filed this month by the State Attorney's Office.
The investigation was started by the city Office of Inspector General and marks the second time since 2024 the inspector general has launched a probe of a housing authority employee that resulted in criminal charges.
Annie Marie Grant, 44, pleaded not guilty to the charge of exploiting an aged adult.
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Office of Inspector General's investigation found Grant obtained the proceeds of money orders from residents of Centennial Towers — a high-rise senior community in the Springfield neighborhood — and attempted to conceal what was happening by giving residents altered receipts and writing letters pretending to be them to "plead their case during eviction proceedings," according to a Jacksonville Sheriff's Office report.
![Medical personnel from UF Health Jacksonville set up a walk-up COVID-19 testing site on the lawn at the Centennial Towers on East First Street in Jacksonville Florida's Springfield neighborhood Thursday, April 23, 2020. This site is the latest remote testing site taking place in underserved neighborhoods outside of Jacksonville's city core. Teams were also going door to door to do testing of residents who requested it at the senior living complex. [Bob Self/Florida Times-Union]](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2021/03/15/NFTU/a53edbf6-59db-4a66-9f38-94f887a13d08-FLJAX_042320_CentennialTow.jpg)
"All the Centennial Tower residents interviewed denied they ever gave Grant a money order for anything other than paying their rent or other associated costs to reside at Centennial Towers," an Office of Inspector General statement given to the Sheriff's Office said. "It was also discovered that one resident was evicted based on the misappropriation."
Office of Inspector General investigator Brandon King said in the statement he was able to "trace and verify $10,625.50 in stolen money orders deposited into Grant's InGo Money account." His statement said the housing authority reported a higher amount of using $17,522 of the agency's funds to correct unprocessed rent payments "believed to have been stolen by Grant."
It is the second case in recent years referred by the Office of Investigation to the State Attorney's Office for criminal prosecution.
An investigation in 2024 of missing prepaid cards at the housing authority resulted in the arrest of Gregory Samuel Williams. The prepaid cards were supposed to help low-income residents but were used at Publix and the Biscottis restaurant in Avondale, according to the Office of Inspector General investigation.
Williams, who no longer works at the authority, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor petit theft charge in December 2024 and paid $2,015 in restitution to the authority, according to court records.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Investigation of housing authority leads to second criminal case
