Pierce Housing Authority Exec Sentenced For $6.9 Million Theft

TACOMA, WA — Former Pierce County Housing Authority executive Cova Campbell has been sentenced for a scheme that stole nearly $7 million in public funding to pay for her own lavish lifestyle, the Department of Justice reports.

"On one level you were a highly competent public servant, but you had a dark side that allowed you to lose your moral compass,” said U.S. District Judge Robert J. Bryan at Campbell's sentencing Friday.

Bryan ultimately sentenced Campbell to 51 months in prison for embezzling $6.9 million to her own bank accounts from the PCHA. The PCHA provides affordable housing for thousands of low-income residents in Pierce County. According to the News Tribune, it had an operating budget just under $34 million in 2018.

“At a time when housing resources in our community are in historically high demand, this defendant stole from the poor and vulnerable who most needed assistance,” said U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Chief Sarah Vogel. “Her greed meant there were less resources for the elderly, the disabled, the veterans, and the children in Pierce County who count on the Housing Authority to provide safe and secure shelter.”

Campbell pleaded guilty to embezzling charges in January, admitting that between March 2016 and July 2019 she had made multiple illegal payments to herself from Pierce County Housing Authority accounts.

According to court records, Campbell funneled up to $500,000 directly into her own bank accounts, and used other stolen funds to:

• Buy land in Oklahoma, plus improvements on that property.
• Refurbish her Lakewood home.
• Pay for trips to Las Vegas, including charting a private jet.
• Buy two cars.

Campbell also "diverted large amounts of the money for gambling and internet gaming", the DOJ said. Investigators say most money was stolen through false invoices sent to the PCHA, made to appear they were from an outside vendor. PCHA would pay these fraudulent invoices — which claimed to be for things like "investments" and "insurance" — directly to Campbell's bank accounts.

Up to 60 percent of the stolen money remains unaccounted for. According to the DOJ, current Commissioners of the Housing Authority Board say Campbell has refused to explain what happened to that money, forcing the Housing Authority to waste time and even more money trying to reclaim the stolen funds through litigation.

“The fraud limits the ability of the authority to assist the community,” said Commissioner Mark Martinez.

Campbell still owes $5,299,976 in restitution.

Campbell's gross misuse of public funds was first discovered by the Washington State Auditor’s Office back on Aug. 8, 2019. At the time, officials said the case was the largest of its kind for a local government in Washington history. Campbell was then arrested in March 2020 in Redbird, Oklahoma.

In Friday's sentencing, prosecutors pushed for Campbell to serve a 5-year prison sentence, arguing that she had abused her position to betray the public, and had even thrown her own co-workers under suspicion.

"The crime was a devastating theft from vulnerable residents of Pierce County based on greed,” Assistant United States Attorney Brian Werner wrote in his sentencing memo.

Campbell has been ordered into custody immediately.