PITTSBURGH — 11 Investigates discovered that in 2005, Emmett Miles, through his company, Zechariah Develop and Environmental Corp, purchased the old Larimer school for $10,000 from a non-profit.
Miles planned to redevelop the property, but that never happened after Miles said he couldn’t obtain the funding.
Deeds obtained by Channel 11 News show Miles transferred the property to a real estate company he owned before selling it again to his community development corporation, Fishers of Men, in 2011.
In 2016, 11 years after his initial purchase, Miles sold the Larimer School to the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh for $250,000.
Sources stated Miles completed little to no work on the building, yet received ten times his original purchase price.
The URA later completed development of the building, converting it into apartments that are now run by the city Housing Authority.
Pittsburgh City Council President Dan Lavelle served on the URA board when the transaction was approved. Lavelle stated he does not recall specific details of the deal.
“I don’t know. I know if the URA purchased it, more than likely we had it appraised and I know we don’t pay above appraised value, so if it appraised for that much then it was appropriate,” Lavelle said.
Miles, executive director of the non-profit organization Fishers of Men of Homewood, faces 29 felony charges in Pittsburgh, including theft, forgery and running a corrupt organization. The charges follow an investigation by the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office into his handling of government grant funds.
DA Stephen Zappala executed a search warrant at City Hall, demanding thousands of documents from the administration of former Mayor Ed Gainey. Gainey has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and said he welcomes the DA’s investigation.
Miles is the first person charged in the investigation.
The DA’s office uncovered that the $30,000 in grant money from the city’s Food Justice fund was given to Miles.
Miles was supposed to address food insecurity with a mobile kitchen, but Investigators said Miles never completed the project.
The organization that administered the grant money used its own money to reimburse the city after Miles failed to turn in receipts documenting the expenditures.
That organization said it repeatedly reached out to Miles with no success.
It wasn’t just city grant money, but taxpayer-funded grant money from Allegheny County and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Investigators say Miles received a combination of $250,000 in taxpayer-funded state and county grant money for a job training program in Homewood.
A man hired by Miles to run that program told 11 Investigates that Miles stopped paying him, prompting him to quit and file a federal lawsuit seeking back pay.
He said he had a few people interested, but Miles never got the program up and running.
Additionally, authorities charged Miles with contractor fraud for allegedly accepting $80,000 to renovate a home without completing the work.
Investigators say he squandered the money at bars, restaurants and on lottery tickets.
When asked how Miles was able to secure public support despite his past, Lavelle noted he had no personal knowledge of his record.
“That I don’t know. I’ve never actually directly worked with him. So I don’t know his background and his history,” Lavelle said. Lavelle added, “It’s always a concern when taxpayer dollars are being mismanaged, as being alleged here. That’s always a concern.”
According to Channel 11 News, Miles secured several hundred thousand dollars in public funding over two decades despite a 30-year history of civil complaints, tax liens and prior criminal charges. The Internal Revenue Service revoked the non-profit status of Fishers of Men in 2023 after it failed to file required financial paperwork, yet Miles continued to secure municipal funding as recently as last year.
Public records show Miles and his affiliated entities have faced a long list of civil complaints over the past 30 years, including tax liens and lawsuits for failure to pay. Miles also faced past criminal charges, including theft by deception and writing bad checks. Fishers of Men became a recognized non-profit in 2020 before its revocation in 2023 for failing to submit required IRS filings.
Miles is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing next week to address the 29 felony charges.
11 Investigates reached out to the URA to see if they have any record of an appraisal on the old school. They have not yet provided a response.
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