Two workers at Roxbury housing complex charged with taking bribes to get people subsidized apartments

A federal grand jury has indicted two former workers at Roxse Homes on charges they placed ineligible people in subsidized apartments in exchange for payments of up to $7,000.

Mathis Lemons, 41, of Brockton, an assistant property manager, and Ismael Morales, 35, of Jamaica Plain, a maintenance technician, had bail set at $25,000 each at their arraignments in US District Court this week.

Both were employed by Cornerstone Corp., which manages the apartment complex at 1050 Tremont St.

Roxse Homes such a long wait list for its apartments it has not added new names to the list since 2009. But Lemons and Morales spread word they could get people high up on the list and into an apartment for a fee, the indictment alleges.

Between September of last year and February of this year, the indictment charges, they took money from people, backdated their applications to well before 2009, then added their names to the top of the computerized waiting list, the indictment says.

At least seven people got apartments this way, paying the pair bribes that ranged from $300 to $7,000, according to the indictment. The indictment details the seven cases, including that of a woman who paid $7,000 to Morales:

On or about Nov. 6, 2014, Lemons added Applicant #2's name to the Roxse Homes computerized waitlist. Lemons falsely entered Applicant #2's application date in the waitlist as August 15, 2006.

On or about Dec. 15, 2014, Applicant #2 moved into a two bedroom apartment at Roxse Homes.

The two face up to five years in federal prison on a charge of conspiracy and up to ten years for the seven counts of bribery, the US Attorney's office reports.

Innocent, etc.