WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU)— We begin with Luzerne County filing a lawsuit against a local non-profit.
Officials say it's to get back nearly a half million dollars in funds.
The lawsuit is filed against Keystone Mission that recently announced it will close two of its local homeless shelters including one in Wilkes-Barre.
The suit aims to get back more than $400,000 that the county allocated in ARPA funds to the organization over the past year or so.
Luzerne County's manager tells me this is to protect the county, but the organization's CEO says they are waiting to hear more.
Keystone Mission faces two facility closures and now, a lawsuit on the table.
Luzerne County manager Romilda Crocamo says the county allocated keystone mission roughly $430,000 periodically over the last year and a half.
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It now wants that money back.
"We'll let the lawsuit play it's course and hope to recoup the money in that means," said Romilda Crocamo, Luzerne County manager.
"I am shocked this was done," added Justin Berhens, CEO, Keystone Mission.
Keystone Mission CEO Justin Berhens tells me he was notified of the lawsuit but nothing more.
Crocamo says the money was intended to create five apartments in one building in Wilkes-Barre for families in the children and youth agencies.
"But those apartments are not finished. I wanted to make sure my job is to protect the county," voiced Crocamo.
Berhens also says the money went toward the apartments, but it was also used for a room to help with job skills and housing searches.
"There's nothing shady about this. There is nothing we did illegal, we showed everything that we put in and got asked for reimbursement after we put it in there. It's not like we took the money and then spent it," argued Berhens.
Berhens defends the planned closures saying the need for more staffing and funding kept piling up and became costly as donations began to drop.
"Coming together, we are going to try and assist in this immediate crisis and then I think that we need to get all those people together again and see how we can make it better," stated Crocamo.
Meantime, both the CEO and Crocamo tell me they are looking to communicate together going forward and continue to help those most vulnerable during this uncertain time.
"I need NEPA to wakeup, that we don't judge, we don't have a stigma, and we do care about our neighbors," exclaimed Berhens.
Crocamo says the county is waiting on the audit report to come back.
Berhens says Keystone Mission is willing to cooperate and is awaiting more details on the lawsuit.
