She’s gone from hero to zero.
A beloved Bronx woman, once honored by Volvo as “America’s Greatest Hometown Hero” for her work with troubled teens, submitted $250,400 worth of “inappropriate or undocumented expenses” for her taxpayer-funded nonprofit, according to a scathing audit by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
Among the dodgy expenses submitted by Earnestine Russell, the executive director of the Baychester Youth Council, was $3,519 for a home-entertainment system installed in her apartment, the audit found.
“This director used public money to buy two televisions and a Blu-ray home theater at the expense of children in need,” said DiNapoli, adding that he turned over his office’s findings to the Bronx District Attorney’s Office for possible criminal prosecution.
Known as “Mom” throughout Baychester for her youth work over the past 30 years, Russell ran after-school programs for 200 kids with a $2.7 million, five-year contract with the state Education Department.
Auditors examining a single year’s worth of reimbursement requests from July 2010 to June 2011 found a startling number of irregularities, including $189,303 in claims that couldn’t be accounted for, $4,990 to pay her rent and personal hotel bills and a $3,000 loan to her charity’s board chair, Pearl Augus, to cover personal legal fees.
Russell, 62, also doled out $30,416 in improper payments to relatives, according to the audit.
Meanwhile, she was also paid an annual salary of $114,000, according to her charity’s 2010 IRS filing.
She had earlier come under fire for allegedly charging parents high fees for summer-camp programs and then not taking the kids on promised field trips.
When asked for comment, Russell said, “Can’t speak to you. My lawyer told me.”
For years, Russell, a mother of four who lives in the Baychester Houses a block from her nonprofit’s headquarters, was lauded for her work in preventing teen pregnancy and truancy.
In 2004 she topped 3,000 nominees to receive Volvo’s prestigious “Volvo for Life Award” award, selected by a panel that included Hank Aaron, Bill Bradley, Caroline Kennedy, Maya Lin, Paul Newman, and astronaut Sally Ride.
Volvo awarded her a new car every three years for life along with a one-time $50,000 grant for her nonprofit.
She’s due to receive her fourth new car, an SUV, in April despite the audit, according to Laura Venezia, a spokeswoman for the car manufacturer.
“It doesn’t affect her status at the present time, but we will monitor the progress of the investigation,” she said.
Her nonprofit’s contracts with the city and state to run after school programs, however, were canceled.
DiNapoli separately, blasted the state Education Department for approving all the shady payments to Russell’s charity despite the lack of documentation.
“The State Education Department should be a better watchdog of high-risk providers such as Baychester, which failed to pay taxes and had its New York City contracts terminated,” he said.
Additional reporting by Kate Kowsh