Alicia Henderson, former Centro employee, is accused of embezzeling money from the not-for-profit downtown development organization.
Alicia Henderson, former Centro employee, is accused of embezzeling money from the not-for-profit downtown development organization.
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This rendering shows the appearance of Alamo Plaza under a master plan that would include an interpretation of the south wall and historic main gate of the mission and 1836 battle compound, made of structural glass. Other features include a 135,000-square-foot museum; historic footings of the historic walls displayed under structural glass; and interpretation of an acequia, or water canal, on the west end of the plaza.
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This rendering shows the appearance of Alamo Plaza under a master plan that would include an interpretation
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When Alicia Henderson took an accounting job at Centro San Antonio, she already had been convicted of felony bank fraud and charged twice with theft by check.
She had declared bankruptcy the year before and was struggling to prevent the foreclosure of her home, court and property records show.
Multiple people with first-hand knowledge of the investigation identified Henderson, who served as Centro’s staff accountant and office manager from October 2014 until last month, as the employee linked to the embezzlement of $260,000 from the nonprofit, leading to the resignation of Pat DiGiovanni, its president and CEO.
READ MORE: Centro San Antonio CEO quits amid allegations of embezzlement by staffer
Henderson, who didn’t respond to requests for comment, came to Centro from a temp agency. The nonprofit then hired her without a background check, said Don Frost, the Centro board chairman.
Centro essentially includes two organizations with different missions, officials say.
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One of them is an advocacy group for the downtown community that successfully lobbied for projects in this year’s city bond package. The other has a multimillion-dollar contract with the city to manage the downtown public improvement district, or PID, which collects property taxes to perform extra services such as street sweeping and graffiti removal.
DiGiovanni’s ascent to president and CEO of Centro in January 2013 was marked with controversy.
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While negotiating his employment with Centro, he served on a city selection committee to choose the construction firm to expand the Convention Center. One of the contractors vying for the $300 million contract was Zachry Corp. CEO David Zachry, who was vice-chairman of Centro and involved in DiGiovanni’s hiring.
DiGiovanni, who hasn’t been implicated in any wrongdoing in the embezzlement, said he interviewed Henderson but wasn’t aware of her past and didn’t make the decision to hire her. Instead, Centro’s COO and CFO Tony Piazzi handled the hiring process, he said. Piazzi didn’t respond to a request for comment.
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rwebner@express-news.net
