SOUTH BEND, Ind. — A St. Joseph County judge has ordered activist and convicted felon Vernado Malone pay the families of deceased victims, whom he took nude pictures of, $12,500. While the forced settlement seems low, REAL News Michiana has learned it’s due to Malone claiming he is disabled and indigent, living solely off of Social Security Disability benefits. Court documents show Malone initially agreed to the settlement with the families’ attorney via email, but then backed out of the agreement. A judge then forced Malone to abide by a reduced settled agreement earlier this month.
The lawsuit stems from a joint RNM investigation with retired Homicide Unit Commander Tim Corbett in 2021. That investigation uncovered a scheme in which Malone was using a non-profit he founded called Justice for Michiana to give himself access into a funeral home where he took hundreds of full-body nude photos of the recently deceased. Alford’s Mortuary in South Bend, which was working with Malone, also settled a lawsuit with multiple families of the deceased. The State of Indiana also revoked Alford’s funeral license.
Malone founded Justice for Michiana with a stated goal of helping families of homicide victims with funeral costs. However, on top of the nude picture scheme, he has been accused of stealing money, selling food stamps and using his influence to solicit sex from vulnerable women.
SOUTH BEND GIVES TAX PAYER GRANT TO CONVICTED FELON
This is not the first time Malone has been involved in illegal activity. He has spent nearly his entire adult life conning companies and non-profits — including stealing $100,000 from the American Red Cross. State and Federal court documents show he has a criminal record spanning more than two decades.
In 1999, Malone was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for credit card fraud. He was ordered to pay more than $17,000 in restitution.
In 2005, Malone was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison for Conspiracy to Defraud the United States and Aiding and Abetting Forfeiture Allegation. He was ordered to pay $120,000 in restitution.
In 2015, Malone was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison for Mail Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft. He was ordered to pay more than $50,000 in restitution.
There are also several state level charges and convictions, including multiple arrests for child molestation. Malone recently petitioned the court to expunge his state records.
Despite all of that, in 2021, the City of South Bend awarded Malone with $7,000 in taxpayer money as part of the “Alive grant” initiative.
According to the city’s website, the “Alive grant program is part of the City’s ongoing efforts to reduce incidents of gun violence in the community and provide constructive initiatives for South Bend’s young people.”
Attached is Malone’s grant application and the City’s award.
Justice-For-Michiana-ApplicationDownload
SB-Alive-Response-Letter_RCD2_VMaloneSr_JFMDownload
RNM reached out to Mayor James Mueller himself who had the city’s Director of Communications at the time, Caleb Bauer, respond. The city had 3 days to come up with the following statement.
“The South Bend Alive Grant Program was developed to support community-based initiatives that work to reduce incidents of gun violence in South Bend. Applicants were required to complete a narrative grant application describing their plans for prospective programming and submit a budget form detailing how grant funds would be utilized.
Recipients are required to provide quarterly updates on their programs and measurable data to the Office of Community Initiatives for review.
Grant recipients have agreed to comply with all federal, state and local laws, rules, regulations and ordinances. A grantee who violated any laws would also be in violation of the program agreement and could be subject to litigation.”
RNM asked Bauer if the city knew about Malone’s criminal record and if the city did background checks on the applicants. Bauer did not respond.
In the grant application, Malone does not divulge that he is taking nude photos of deceased victims. In 2021, RNM asked Malone why he didn’t include that information.
“It don’t need to be said,” he said.
MORE FELONS AND FRAUD
RNM discovered the city changed the name on one grant to give money to a friend of the Director of Community Initiatives, Maurice Scott, who was in charge of the Alive Grant program. A notice of tort was issued in that case. You can read all about that here.
Another awardee, Wright Chosen Ministries and its founder Lori Wright, is accused of taking food stamps from homeless families and selling them to a woman in Louisiana. You can read more about that story here.
RNM discovered the city gave thousands of dollars to a convicted murderer who had been out of prison for less than a year. You can read about that here.
The city also gave grant money to a federally convicted armed robber.
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