City alleges it was overcharged millions on office supplies from Office Depot

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The city of Houston says a store you've likely shopped at bilked the city out of millions of your tax dollars. An audit released late Friday afternoon accuses Office Depot of overcharging city taxpayers for more than 4 years.

In all, the city says it was overcharged more than $6 million and there's suspicion the overcharging was no accident.

This is the latest in a string of complaints against Office Depot. Cities across the country have alleged similar overcharging. Much of it first brought to light by a former Office Depot employee who's notified cities across the county of potential problems -- issues now confirmed by the city of Houston.

Who would think that a few cents here on paper, and a few cents there on pens or cartridges or tape, would somehow add up to millions and millions of dollars? City of Houston Controller Ronald Green does.

"This wasn't nickels and dimes on Office Depot's part?" we asked Green.

"Not at all," he replied. "We think an upwards of $6.5 million, on the high end."

According to the audit, thousands of supplies had no price on city invoices from Office Depot; other items had prices that changed without reason; and some items were delivered to the city without the proper discounts applied.

It was so frequent and so widespread that, Green says, there's no way it was an accident.

"It opened up the door really for a lot of fraud, if you will," Green said.

"That's a strong word," we said.

"And I think it is," Green said. "I think someone knew what was going on here."

"And they made a lot of money of the taxpayers of Houston?" we asked.

"They made a lot of money," he said.

Here is just one of the irregularities the city auditor found: The first time the city bought easel pads, it paid $7.50 under this Office Depot contract. Then the auditor says the price climbed to $31.49, then dropped down to $30.99, and then back again to $7.50, before climbing again to $30.99 toward the end of the contract. All the price change were without explanation, says the auditor, and while the city should've been getting the cheapest price available.

"The vendor should be successful and make money, and we're for that. But the whole thing should be clear, it should be up front and then it should be honored," city of Houston auditor Dave Schroeder said.

Houston is far from the only city alleging overcharging by Office Depot.

According to government audits available online and press reports nationwide, Dallas settled with the company for $1.7 million, Florida for $4.5 million; Phoenix says it was overcharged by $5.3 million, while San Francisco alleges $4.25 million. Add in some other smaller cities and the alleged nationwide overcharges easily top $16 million nationwide.

Now Houston wants cash, too.

"I think that there is some nefarious intent on the side of Office Depot. We've been shown that by the way they've responded to us and not being transparent in providing information," Green said.

In a written reply to the Houston audit, Office Depot denies the charges and challenges the way the audit was conducted. The company says:

"The City of Houston auditor's assertion that the City was entitled to certain additional discounts is simply wrong. The auditor's report rehashes old claims originally made by a disgruntled former employee, that are based on inaccurate legal interpretations of Office Depot's former contract that the City was not a party to and which contract expired at the end of 2010.

"These very claims were considered and expressly rejected by the Florida Attorney General's office back in 2010, after it conducted a two-year investigation into the same allegations. Office Depot cooperated with the City of Houston's auditor and appreciated the City's patronage of Office Depot on the contact."

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more In Focus »

in focus, ted oberg

View the original article here

Stripper alleges discrimination against newspaper

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The Houston Chronicle has gone from reporting the news to being the news. A former reporter has hired a big name attorney and is suing the newspaper, claiming she was fired for being a stripper.

Sarah Tressler says she was hired by the Houston Chronicle in January and worked as a society writer covering the high life in Houston.

"I liked the work and I felt that I had good editors who provided me with opportunities to cover stories in Houston that might have otherwise been overlooked," Tressler said.

And there was a second job, and a different topic she blogged about, as an exotic dancer on her twitter account she wrote through "The Diary of an Angry Stripper."

"They were separate. I was writing about completely separate things," Tressler said. In March, Tressler says was fired by the Chronicle and told it was because she did not disclose her prior employment as a dancer. "I feel that women should not be denied other employment because they have worked as exotic dancers," she said. The writer, who says she's also taught classes at the University of Houston, says she didn't lie since she was an independent contractor, never an employee of any club. The 30-year-old hired high-profile attorney Gloria Allred and has filed a charge of gender discrimination with the EEOC and has asked them to investigate her claim of gender discrimination. "Sarah also believed that it seems highly unlikely that men who are independent contractors have been terminated if they have failed to list in Houston Chronicle employment applications work which they have done legally," Allred said. When asked about Tressler's claims the Houston Chronicle will only say, "We have not seen the complaint and thus cannot comment." "What's making this case newsworthy is the fact that she's an exotic dancer," Houston Attorney Scott Newar said. Newar has tried hundreds of employment and labor cases. Though he is not involved in the Tressler case, he says the question will be how the Chronicle treated male employees who may not have disclosed a previous job. "That's what this ultimately comes down to. Was she treated discriminatorily based on her gender ,not whether or not she was treated discriminatorily because she's an exotic dancer," Newar said. "There are male and female exotic dancers and being an exotic dancer is not a protected classification under the discrimination law." We'll have to see how the case proceeds. The EEOC will now wait for the Chronicle's written position statement. That process could take about six months. Tressler could then request a right to sue letter from the EEOC or the case could be settled out of court. (Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
Get more Local »

local, christine dobbyn
// perform JavaScript after the document is scriptable.OTV.common.modules.promoCarousel.promoCarouselInit("/ktrk/xml?id=5758258&ptnr=promoCarousel");

(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");

View the original article here

Woman alleges church stole her identity for loan

 HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A local woman fought back tears on Good Friday. Her bank account is drained and she claims her church duped her out of tens of thousands of dollars.

The woman is now suing the Chapel of Praise in Alief, saying the church stole her identity and left her in financial ruin. That parishioner says when she decided to become a member here in 2005 she had to fill out a form, giving personal information including her date of birth, Social Security number and her signature. She accuses church leaders of using that to get a loan in her name. Francisca Mena says she is in danger of losing her home because of a loan that was taken out in her name that she only recently found out existed. "Almost crazy you know. Why? How?" she said. She didn't know what to make of the thousands of dollars being drafted suddenly out of her checking account. "The bank is empty. I say why?! Two days ago, I put $3,000, you know?" Mena said. Her bank told her another bank had filed a judgment against her over a loan that hadn't been repaid. She says that loan was taken out by leaders of the Chapel of Praise church. She's filed suit against its leaders, alleging that they took her personal information and used it to secure a loan to purchase $30,000 worth of music instruments and audio equipment. According to the suit, when confronted, Pastor Steve Ams told Mena "not to worry because he would take care of it." Other church leaders allegedly told her they were "very sorry" and that the church would begin to repay her $500 monthly. Mena insists that has never happened. Mena says she feels violated and that she trusted her church and its leaders. She and her husband have three adopted children and they're foster parents to three more. Now she wonders what will happen to them if they lose the house. Late Friday afternoon, Ams returned our calls, saying Mena was never a church member. "The information is totally false. For a non member to bring an allegation based on a lawsuit that has not been double checked, it's not fair," he told us over the phone. We offered Ams a chance to speak on camera but he declined. Meanwhile, the Houston Police Department is investigating Mena's claims. (Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) 

View the original article here