PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – A former official sentenced to prison for stealing money from a Rhode Island housing agency is now working as a consultant for local housing authorities in five towns, according to a news report.

Ralph Pari, the former director of the Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Corp., pleaded no contest in 1988 to charges that he used agency money for personal reasons and destroyed computer records to cover up illegal loans.

Now Pari earns $91,000 annually as a consultant for publicly funded housing authorities in Cranston, North Providence, East Providence, Johnston and Bristol, WJAR-TV reported.

Susan Boddington, a deputy director at the state’s Housing and Mortgage Finance Corp., wrote a letter to town officials calling Pari’s employment as a consultant “problematic.”

“This agency has for the last 20 years worked at restoring our reputation and the integrity of the agency. The whole legacy of Ralph Pari is something that continues to make work here very difficult,” Boddington told the news station.

Pari was sentenced to 16 months in prison, and ordered to pay $8,000 in fines.

Pari said he’s sorry for what he did and paid for it.

“Just let me work,” he said.

Donna Conway, the executive director of the North Providence Housing Authority, said she was vaguely aware of Pari’s past. She praised his work as a consultant.

“His past ended 20 years ago. I don’t even remember the situation. I know it was 20 years ago, and as far as I know, it wasn’t a life sentence,” she said.