DOVER, Del. - Two former employees of the Dover Interfaith Mission for Housing have been sentenced after pleading guilty to embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars in public funds, including federal money meant to help Delaware’s homeless.
Federal prosecutors say Karen D. Wilder, 39, and her husband Renwick L. Davis, 49, both of Dover, admitted to embezzling about $600,000 while working for Dover Interfaith Mission for Housing.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware, Wilder and Davis, the nonprofit’s former executive director and a case manager, respectively, carried out the scheme between December 2021 and November 2023. Prosecutors say the stolen money included federal grant funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Those funds were intended to provide emergency housing, rental and mortgage assistance, and medical support to people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness, including aid tied to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Court documents state Wilder withdrew cash from mission accounts, claiming it would be used for emergency housing assistance. Instead, prosecutors say she deposited that money into her personal bank accounts. Investigators also say Wilder and Davis worked together to transfer roughly $150,000 into Davis’s personal account, falsely labeling the transactions as assistance for people in need.
Authorities say the couple spent the money on luxury items, shopping, travel, and other personal expenses. Prosecutors also allege Wilder directed nonprofit funds to pay the mortgage on her own home.
“The defendants abused the trust of their positions and stole taxpayer dollars intended to provide essential services to Delaware’s most vulnerable citizens,” U.S. Attorney Julianne E. Murray said in a statement, adding that the theft deprived homeless individuals in southern Delaware of desperately needed help.
On Thursday, Jan. 15, Wilder was sentenced to 30 months in prison followed by three years supervised release, according to court records. She was also ordered to pay $600,000 in restitution. Davis was sentenced to a year of probation and ordered to pay $149,940 in restitution.