Trial of former housing official gets underway

Credit: Journal file photo

Ernie Pitt, center, on his way to a January court appearance with attorneys Chris Clifton, left, and Mike Grace, right.

By: JournalNow Staff | Journal Staff Report
Published: March 23, 2009

Ernie Pitt, the former chairman of the Housing Authority of Winston-Salem, is in federal court today, facing charges that he participated in a fraudulent land deal in 2003.

Pitt's trial got underway this morning in U.S. District Court in Winston-Salem with Judge Malcolm Howard of the Eastern District of North Carolina presiding.

Two other defendants in the case, former HAWS director Reid Lawrence and businessman Tom Trollinger, have pleaded guilty in the case.

Pitt is accused of fraud by arranging for East Pointe Developers, the company he ran with Trollinger, to buy the Lansing Ridge development in 2003, then selling it to a HAWS subsidiary at a steep markup.

East Pointe had owned Lansing Ridge before 2002, then sold it but kept a second mortgage on the land. When the new owners struggled, Pitt and Trollinger had an interest in keeping the property from foreclosure because it would have cost them the second mortgage, prosecutors have said.

Both Pitt and Lawrence had signed agreements as part of their HAWS work that prohibited HAWS from making deals with any of its employees or board members, federal prosecutors said.

Pitt is also the publisher of The Chronicle, a weekly newspaper.

Trial of former housing official gets underway

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