A federal judge on October 14 ordered Ruby Collado, the founder and former executive director of Casa Ruby, a now-shuttered D.C. LGBTQ community services organization, to be held in custody pending sentencing on a wire fraud charge to which she pleaded guilty in July 2024.
U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden postponed a sentencing hearing scheduled for the next day, Oct. 15, after Corrado’s court-appointed public defender withdrew his representation.
Attorney Elizabeth Marin said in a court filing that the reason for withdrawing from the case was “an irreconcilable breakdown in the attorney-client relationship.”
After calling Ms. Corrado and Ms. Marin and having a private conversation in the judge’s chair, Ms. McFadden informed Ms. Corrado that he was revoking her eligibility for release while awaiting sentencing because he was concerned that she would not return to court for sentencing.
Corrado disputed the judge’s concerns, saying he had always returned to the courtroom for previous hearings and planned to return for sentencing. Ms McFadden refused to revoke the order that she be held until sentencing.
He said he would postpone the Oct. 15 sentencing to give Collado time to hire another attorney. Corrado told the Washington Blade ahead of an Oct. 14 out-of-court hearing that he plans to hire his own attorney rather than hire another public defender. She disputes the charges to which she has pleaded guilty, but said she declined to discuss the matter because she is restricted from speaking publicly about her case.
The postponement of sentencing, which the judge did not reschedule, marks the seventh time Mr. Collado’s sentencing hearing has been postponed. Court records show that previous delays were primarily at the request of Mr. Collado’s attorney, including one due to a medical issue he faced.
According to online court records posted later that day on Oct. 14, Judge McFadden scheduled an additional hearing for Dec. 15, at which time a new attorney would be arranged to represent Corrado.
The charges to which she pleaded guilty are based on allegations that she diverted “at least $180,000 in taxpayer-supported coronavirus emergency relief funds into private offshore bank accounts for personal use,” according to an earlier statement released by prosecutors in the Washington, D.C., U.S. Attorney’s Office.
FBI agents arrested Collado on March 5, 2024, at a hotel in Laurel, Maryland, shortly after he returned to the United States from El Salvador, according to court records. Authorities say he moved to El Salvador in 2022. Prosecutors said in charging documents that Collado is suspected of having “fled” to El Salvador after “accounting irregularities at Casa Ruby became public” and the LGBTQ organization was suspended.
Shortly after Corado’s arrest, another judge agreed to release him under a home detention order to the custody of his niece in Rockville, Maryland, pending trial.
As part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, additional charges brought against her at the time of her arrest, including bank fraud, laundering of financial instruments, financial dealing in proceeds of crime, and failure to file reports of foreign bank accounts, were dropped upon her pleading guilty.
Under federal wire fraud laws, Mr. Collado could be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison. But in a 16-page sentencing memorandum filed in court on Oct. 8, the lead prosecutor in the case, Assistant U.S. Attorney John W. Borchert, asked for a 33-month prison sentence.
“Defendants and Casa Ruby received at least $1.2 million in taxpayer-supported funds during the COVID-19 global health crisis,” the sentencing memo states. “However, the defendant further contributed to Casa Ruby’s collapse by illegally transferring at least $180,000 in federal emergency relief funds to her own private offshore bank account, rather than using those funds to support Casa Ruby’s mission as defendant had promised,” the paper states.
“She then sold her home and fled the country when media reports indicated that the defendant would be prosecuted for squandering Casa Ruby government funds,” the memo states. “Meanwhile, the people she promised to pay with taxpayer-supported funds – her employees, landlords and vendors – were left penniless.”
In an Oct. 10 interview with WUSA-9 News, Collado disputed claims that he personally used funds brought back to El Salvador from Casa Ruby. Corrado said she is working on a project to establish Casa Ruby in El Salvador to help LGBTQ immigrants avoid the “dangerous journey” to the United States, WUSA reported.
“There was a huge crisis around immigration at the time,” Collado said in an on-air interview. “We helped them. That was my mission,” she said. When asked by WUSA if she left the United States with the folding of Casa Ruby, she replied, “There was a famous tweet that said it looks like she left. No, I was in and out.”
He added: “The first thing I want to say to people, mainly my clients, is I’m sorry. I’m sorry I can’t support you like I used to. That’s part of my healing.”
Source: Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News – www.washingtonblade.com
