Troubles Continue for Connecticut Charity

A Connecticut nonprofit group that helps poor residents pay their heating bills had boxes of documents, as well as several computers, seized by federal agents on Thursday in its New Haven office, reports The New York Times. Agents who carried out the raid are investigating complaints filed by an employee that the Community Action Agency of New Haven accepted applications from illegal immigrants and others who were not eligible for aid.

The Community Action Agency is one of several organizations that determine which state applicants are eligible for the federally financed Connecticut Energy Assistance Program.

Amos Smith, the organization’s current president and chief executive, said simply, “I’ve never seen anything like it before.” Mr. Smith took over Community Action Agency after a series of fiscal problems led to a brief state takeover in 2005. He said that, despite past troubles, the group was “trying to get better.”

Mr. Smith said some illegal immigrants had received energy assistance in the past because the computer system’s drop-down menu for Social Security numbers provided a made-up or temporary number if applicants did not recall their numbers. The agency recently changed its policy so that people without a Social Security number have to have their applications processed manually.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell said in a press statement that the raid would not interrupt the work of the agency, as the office would be supplied with replacement computers and temporary help.

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