Head of Pittsburgh nonprofit charged with theft and corruption after investigation into city's finances

After a year-long investigation by the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office into the city of Pittsburgh's finances, the first of what's expected to be several indictments has been filed. 

In his first budget, former Mayor Ed Gainey dedicated $3 million in federal COVID money to combat hunger, giving grants to community organizations to feed people facing food insecurity. But in the first of what is expected to be several indictments, a county investigating grand jury has charged the founder of one of those non-profit groups, 62-year-old Emmett Miles, with 29 counts of theft and corruption, including 17 felonies. 

Miles is the head of Fishers of Men Community Development Corporation, which is supposedly headquartered at the old Larimer School. Documents show he was the recipient of a $30,000 food grant from the city that was supposed to go to another organization but apparently did not. 

Miles has yet to be located. The exact details are in a sealed indictment and are not laid out in the criminal complaint. But a record shows Fishers of Men received a $30,120 grant from the city's Food Justice Fund on behalf of the Oasis Project — a farm-to-table program under the Bible Center Church in Homewood. In a phone conversation, a spokesperson for the church said it has never received any money from Miles or Fishers of Men. 

Fishers of Men has been one of several organizations under investigation by the district attorney's office, which has been probing the possible misuse of funds during the Gainey administration. Records show that Fishers of Men was granted tax-exempt status in 2020, but that was revoked in 2023 for failing to file tax returns for three successive years.

Gainey could not be reached for comment, but while the current O'Connor administration has been cooperating with investigators, Chief of Staff Dann Gilman said these revelations are disturbing. 

"The allegations are obviously very concerning," he said. "This was money that was intended to serve our neediest committees in our city. And if the money didn't make it to the intended recipients, that's obviously of great concern."

Sources say that the grand jury has found sufficient evidence to charge others, and more indictments are forthcoming.