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Joe Henderson: Other good works can't balance theft from vulnerable victims

 
Above, this renovated group home once was operated by HARC. The group’s former CEO Richard Lilliston, left, was credited with raising millions for the agency but has been sentenced to prison for stealing Social Security from developmentally disabled clients.
Above, this renovated group home once was operated by HARC. The group’s former CEO Richard Lilliston, left, was credited with raising millions for the agency but has been sentenced to prison for stealing Social Security from developmentally disabled clients.
Published Sept. 25, 2017

What price can you put on your good name?

Richard Lilliston had one of those when he was the chief executive of the Hillsborough Association for Retarded Citizens, but I guess everything is up for bid.

That's the only way to explain how a highly respected man with a track record of helping the most vulnerable people in the community decided to cash in. He got involved in a scheme that stole Social Security money from the people he was supposed to protect, and now the life of considerable merit he had worked to build is reduced to rubble.

But don't get me wrong. The only tragedy in this story is the people who were hurt by Lilliston's malfeasance. They trusted him. Their families trusted him.

We, the people of Tampa, trusted him.

Lilliston ran HARC for 14 years and helped create what seemed to be a blueprint for how to deal with some of society's most vulnerable citizens. They were treated with respect, given a place to stay and programs to help their development. It was working.

The agency was supposed to oversee Social Security payments that went to HARC clients. The cash was supposed to pay for the needs of those under HARC's care, and the government required regular reports on how the money was spent.

Chief accountant Frank Pannullo hatched a scheme to divert those funds into an account that became a personal ATM of sorts, and Lilliston went along for the ride.

Pannullo falsified records to cover their tracks and received two years in prison after pleading guilty to defrauding the Social Security Administration.

But, as Lilliston ruefully acknowledged, the buck stopped with him. He was found guilty at his trial, and before giving him the maximum five-year sentence, U.S. Judge James D. Whittemore had the perfect quote on this sordid affair.

"It's not the money," Whittemore told him, "but from whom it was taken."

Drop the mic, your honor.

His attorney had asked for leniency because of Lilliston's age. His wife, in poor health, told the judge she needed her husband around for support.

We pause here for a public service announcement.

If you are a high-and-mighty sort and thinking of a get-rich scheme that skirts the rule of law, first off — don't. But if you can't resist, pray you don't wind up in Whittemore's court.

You can cry, plead, pray, or sound like you mean it when saying you're sorry 10,001 times. You can line up plenty of character witnesses.

The good judge will read those stacks of letters from friends and family that say your teeny, tiny mistake doesn't mean you're not a great person. If you really screwed up — and Lilliston did — you are going to pay.

Disgraced former Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin White found that out in 2012 while awaiting his sentence for being convicted of accepting bribes. I remember how Whittemore noted he had received 72 letters pleading for him to go easy on White.

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White had his wife of 25 years standing beside him. His grandma, in a wheelchair, begged for mercy. His children told the judge they wanted their father to come home.

Whittemore quietly but firmly said he took all that into account, but then delivered the knockout punch. He said that while the others didn't believe White was a criminal, "Unfortunately, you are."

White got 36 months in prison because he violated the public's trust. And the judge apparently decided Lilliston had committed an even more vile misdeed.

How did someone as smart and, by most accounts, inherently decent as Lilliston get involved in something this? Greed maybe. Stupidity. Was he arrogant enough to believe he wouldn't be caught?

It probably is a mix of all that. Hubris can come with a steep price, and Lilliston just got the bill.