Homer Key on Tuesday became the second person to be sentenced for his role in a scheme to steal federal grant money from Milwaukee County’s disadvantage business enterprise program.
A jury Thursday found contractor Homer Key, accused of colluding to steal federal grant money from Milwaukee County, guilty of felony forgery and conspiring to commit the crime of having a private interest in a public contract.
Contractor Homer Key was particular about his choice of words during his felony theft trial Wednesday, insisting that “retroactive” differs from “backdated” and “units” are not the same as “hours.”
“Time” and “materials” do not appear in Homer Key’s contracts to run a Milwaukee County education program, but the county’s chief auditor said Monday omitting the words did not justify the contractor’s pattern of billing.
Milwaukee County’s lack of competitive bidding for a disadvantaged business education program created an opportunity, the county’s director of audits testified Friday, for a former county employee to funnel federal grant money to a favored colleague.