In 2022 and 2023, Kia A. Player received nearly $1 million in government funds to open and operate a homeless shelter for women and children in Richmond.
She pocketed nearly $200,000 of it and bought herself airline tickets, a luxurious ferry ride in Miami Beach and splurged on a tattoo.
Player, 41, pleaded guilty Tuesday to redirecting government funds for her homeless shelter into her personal coffers, according to a U.S. attorney’s office news release. The money came from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the City of Richmond. In all, HUD and the city suffered $199,163 in actual losses.
The shelter, RVA Sister’s Keeper, which closed around the spring of 2023, provided up to 40 beds for women and children. It offered grab-and-go breakfast and nightly dinner, according to court documents.
Between August 2022 and April 2023, Player falsified at least 35 invoices for expenses she claimed were incurred for services benefiting her shelter, according to court documents. She submitted the invoices to the city for reimbursement and spent the money on furniture and pricey meals, among other things.
At least 21 invoices were listed as payments to an entity called “VCM Catering Services” to provide meals to residents. This business didn’t exist, however. Player had hired her mother — a cafeteria manager at a Richmond public school — to provide the meals, sometimes using food from the school’s cafeteria, according to court documents. She made at least $170,869 off that part of the scheme.
One document Player filed stated she spent $10,120 on 10 separate laundry services for the residents. She paid the company for only three services totaling $2,021, according to court documents. She also submitted a $1,500 invoice for a bed bug treatment that was never provided. Across at least 10 invoices, she indicated she had paid cleaning services a total of $10,500 when, in fact, she’d paid them only $405 for a single cleaning. The staff of RVA Sister’s Keeper typically cleaned the building.
Player also falsified a $47,975 invoice for a contracting company that was listed as having performed construction projects. Most of the items listed, including repairs to the roof, upgrades to the shower and plumbing, and installation of exterior lighting, were never performed, according to court records.
Using an intermediary LLC account for some of the transactions, Player routed at least $68,893 of fraud proceeds to other accounts she controlled.
In addition to travel, Player spent some of her embezzled funds at West End Antique Mall in Richmond, Anthropologie and a veterinary service, where she amassed nearly $3,000 in bills from a veterinary service, according to court records.
Player’s attorney, Charles E. James, and the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia declined to comment on the case.
Player’s sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 25. She faces up to 20 years in prison.
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