The director of a homeownership program for a Detroit nonprofit that aids low-income residents has been accused of orchestrating a fraud scheme that stole homes from dozens of Detroiters.

Zina Thomas, 60, of Detroit, was arrested Wednesday and charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft, U. S. Attorney Dawn N. Ison announced.

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According to the complaint, while serving as director of homeownership programs for the United Community Housing Coalition (UCHC), Thomas conspired with other individuals to steal over 30 properties across Wayne County, primarily in Detroit.

The scheme targeted low-income individuals who were facing potential tax foreclosure. According to the complaint, Thomas currently resides in one of the properties involved.

“While working in a capacity to provide assistance to residents experiencing financial hardships, Ms. Thomas allegedly exploited individuals in the process of losing their homes,” Cheyvoryea Gibson, special agent in charge of the FBI in Michigan, said in a news release. “The FBI and its law enforcement partners will continue to investigate these reprehensible acts of fraud.”

Thomas and other perpetrators are alleged to have filed multiple fraudulent quitclaim deeds,  frequently transferring the target properties from the victim-owners to non-existent “interim owners” before ultimately selling the properties to unwitting third parties, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.

It is also alleged that these fraudulent deeds were falsely notarized by Thomas or another person, which made them appear legitimate and enabled them to be filed with the county’s Register of Deeds. 

The complaint also alleges that Thomas emailed a Wayne County Treasurer’s Office employee fake driver’s licenses and other documents, which were then uploaded into the treasurer’s Property Tax Administration system to halt pending foreclosures. 

Thomas received payment for at least some of the properties via wire transfer into a bank account in the name of her realty company, and Thomas then transferred proceeds from that account to her personal bank account, the complaint contends. 

The UCHC and its executive leadership cooperated with the investigation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. 

UCHC Executive Director Ted Phillips said in a Wednesday statement that while it’s “deeply troubling” that the Thomas and other individuals are alleged to have misused company emails and computers, “the charges confirm that the integrity of UCHC’s programs are not being called into question.”

“We take this matter very seriously. The individuals identified in the complaint have been suspended, we are cooperating fully with the investigation, and we are also conducting an internal review,” Phillips added. “Meanwhile, the United Community Housing Coalition will continue its unwavering advocacy work for Detroiters as it has done for the last 50 years.”

Thomas’ arrest, Ison noted, is the result of a multi-agency investigation involving federal and state law enforcement and “is reflective of our ongoing efforts to identify and disrupt fraud schemes like this as quickly as possible.” 

“This scheme targeted some of our most financially vulnerable citizens and was perpetrated by an individual whose job it was to help those very people avoid losing their homes to foreclosure,” added Ison in a statement.

Wayne County Register of Deeds Bernard J. Youngblood said a rash of incoming complaints to his office’s Deed Fraud Task Force, followed with methodical investigative teamwork, culminated in Wednesday’s announcement.

A complaint is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. When the investigation is completed, a determination will be made whether to seek a felony indictment.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of the Inspector General and Detroit Police Department with aid from the Wayne County Register of Deeds’ Mortgage and Deed Fraud Unit.