D.C. Official Resigns Amid Probe of Lawmaker’s Theft Involving Nonprofit

The director of Washington, D.C.’s homeland security office resigned Tuesday, citing the continuing probe of a former city lawmaker’s theft of more than $300,000 in public money, The Washington Post reports.

Before taking the security post in 2009, Millicent D. West served as president and CEO of the D.C. Children and Youth Investment Trust Corp., a nonprofit group that former D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. used to siphon taxpayer dollars.

Mr. Thomas and two officials of another charity that received money from the trust and kicked it back to the then-councilman have pleaded guilty in the case.

In a letter to Mayor Vincent C. Gray, Ms. West said her departure would “ensure the work of the [homeland security] agency can carry on without any distractions.”