Hector Rosas served as coordinator of Dunkirk Festivals from 2016 to 2019. File photo

Serving as city of Dunkirk Festivals coordinator, Hector Rosas loved the spotlight. Whether it was helping to bring an air show and boat races to the city waterfront or a slate of concerts for the Dunkirk Pier, Rosas always did so with plenty of flamboyancy.

Though a great deal of his work led to additional sponsorships and promotions for high-profile events, it also rubbed a number of area residents the wrong way. On Friday, however, all of Rosas’ accomplishments and efforts took on a different look.

In a joint release from state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt, both announced the indictment of Rosas, 63, of Silver Creek for allegedly mishandling $50,000 in funding. “Rosas allegedly used his position to steal donations meant to help Hurricane Maria victims and divert funds meant to benefit his community into his own pockets,” DiNapoli said. “Public service is a privilege and a duty that he is charged with betraying. Thanks to our partnership with District Attorney Schmidt, we have exposed these schemes.”

Rosas was employed since 1984 with the city as a water meter reader and then laborer. In 2016, he was promoted to the newly created position of festivals coordinator. In that capacity, he ran the city’s summer festival programs through the Dunkirk Local Development Corp.

“These types of crimes are not victimless,” Schmidt said. “Dunkirk, like many of our local municipalities here in Chautauqua County, is engaged in an everyday battle to service its residents with precious little money. City residents, themselves, and most of us here in Chautauqua County, live paycheck to paycheck. Every dollar stolen is a dollar not spent servicing our community. No one should use their public office for personal gain.”

It alleged that in 2017, in his role with the city, Rosas oversaw fundraising efforts to aid the people of Puerto Rico in recovering from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Maria. He collected nearly $15,000 in donations from citizens, schools and civic groups. The investigation revealed all of these funds were transferred by Rosas from the city’s festivals bank account, which he controlled, to his personal bank account. Although Rosas visited his mother’s home in Puerto Rico and spent some of the funds, he could produce no receipts and could not account for the money collected.

From the summer of 2016 to the summer of 2019, Rosas was responsible for collecting and depositing cash generated from beer sales at the annual summer festivals. The investigation revealed that more than $42,000 in cash sales were collected by Rosas but never reported or deposited in the festivals account.

Hector Rosas is the brother of current Dunkirk Mayor Wilfred Rosas, who issued a statement to the OBSERVER. “This isn’t unexpected,” he said. “There has been a long time effort to hurt certain people because of who we are and where our families come from. I’m proud of my work and my efforts to help our community. This doesn’t change how I feel. There is nothing here warranting this kind of scrutiny and prosecution. I will be proven to be right.”

Hector Rosas was arraigned in Chautauqua County Court before Judge Stephen Cass and is due back in court on June 13.

With the Rosas indictment, it is another stain on the workings of city government over the last 15 years. Former Dunkirk Mayor Richard Frey was spared jail time, but was sentenced to six months of home confinement after pleading guilty to federal wire fraud charges in 2017. In addition, he was forced to pay restitution of $54,000. From January 2003 to June 2012, he devised and executed a scheme to defraud the co-owners of the Clarion Hotel, Marina & Conference Center and the owner of Fieldbrook Foods by inducing them to make contributions to his mayoral and other political campaigns.

In 2009, the Dunkirk Local Development Corp. also came under scrutiny from DiNapoli’s office. The audit, released in 2012, revealed that city officials severely mismanaged the Community Block Development Grant program and put significant funds at risk. City officials disbursed CDBG funds without the most basic of documentation to support the expenses and have used the funds at times to pay for a variety of miscellaneous expenses that have no connection to the CDBG program. Most disturbing, the report said, is that some of the transactions recorded were in a manner to apparently hide the true nature of the spending.

From Jan. 1, 2009, to April 30, 2012, 109 payments totaling more than $27,000 were issued to either the DLDC chairman or DLDC treasurer. The audit found the chairman improperly used $13,000 in CDBG funds to reimburse himself for unauthorized travel expenses and an additional $2,000 to pay for unauthorized conference registration fees. In addition, the chairman also paid himself a total of $2,300 and the treasurer a total of $4,300 as a “bonus” that was never authorized.

No charges were ever filed in the mishandling of those funds tied to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.