In February 2006, Alexis Twyman, looking for help in finding a place to live, went to the Virginia Williams Family Resource Center, the District’s central intake office for families requesting emergency shelter assistance.

From a flyer at the center, she learned about a woman named Jasmine Worthy who claimed she could find housing for homeless families.

Twyman met with an associate of Worthy's and soon turned over $600 plus a $25 application fee with the promise that the company would find an apartment for her in about two to four weeks.

After that Twyman said Worthy “gave me the runaround.” She said Worthy showed her a number of apartments, but it turned out that all of them were occupied or someone else was ready to move in.

“I kept asking her what she was going to do,” but Worthy didn't give an explanation, Twyman said. “Then I got tired of it,” she said. Around the beginning of April, she asked for the money back.

After Worthy did not return the money, Twyman said she eventually sought help from the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, a nonprofit that provides free legal services to homeless individuals.

According to documents from the Legal Clinic and the D.C. government Worthy has taken thousands of dollars from homeless people such as Twyman and failed to deliver on her promises. Worthy denies that she has done anything wrong.

A February 2006 report from the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA), said that Worthy “targets her services to persons with HIV/AIDS, ex-offenders and shelter populations.”

“Unfortunately, for her clients, Ms. Worthy did not find them an apartment and kept their money,” the report said. Worthy was “unresponsive” when they asked for their money back, according to the DCRA.

However, the recorded message at Worthy's office number says, "We've been fighting the war on homelessness, and I think we've been winning." In an interview, Worthy said she was "serving the community" by finding affordable housing for people who needed it, and keeps the money is escrow while they are waiting for housing.

The DCRA prepared its report in response to complaints of neglect and mismanagement about Worthy from the owner of a property in Southeast. On the basis of its investigation the DCRA issued a February 28 order fining Worthy $2,000 for engaging in “property management” without a license.

While there were no other charges, the DCRA recommended that the D.C. Office of the Attorney General (OAG) pursue criminal prosecution of Worthy for activities described in the report.

But the OAG is not pursuing charges against Worthy, spokeswoman Traci Hughes said in early November. The office began an investigation but dropped it once the DCRA imposed its fine on Worthy, she said.

The DCRA “has first crack at” cases like Worthy’s, Hughes said. If the fines are not paid, the OAG could get involved, she said.

When asked why the fine for a property-management violation precluded charges for other activities, Hughes said the case “wasn't parceled between charges.”

The Legal Clinic started receiving complaints about Worthy one and a half years ago, according Ann Marie Staudenmaier, a staff attorney for the clinic.

Before that, there was a time “when we were on friendlier terms with her,” Staudenmaier said. The clinic wanted to get more information on how her business operates, and Worthy saw it as an opportunity to promote her business, Staudenmaier said.

However Worthy was “very cagey” and proved to be “an incredibly elaborate liar,” Staudenmaier said. Worthy would agree to meetings and then break the agreements, Staudenmaier said. Once, Worthy said she had just gotten married; another time, she claimed to have a high-risk pregnancy, Staudenmaier recalled.

Cornell Chappelle, the chief of program operations for the Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness, said he was concerned by the complaints about Worthy. But he said the partnership, which oversees District homeless shelters for the D.C. government, had more positive experiences with her in the past. While Worthy sometimes was late in finding apartments for clients, she eventually did find them, he said.

About six months ago, the partnership started hearing about problems with her “here and there,” and the Family Resource Center stopped dealing with her, Chappelle said.

Still, Worthy continues to attract customers, Staudenmaier said.

Sarah Bennett and her boyfriend, Bennie Freeman, also came to the Legal Clinic after their experiences with Worthy. Bennett said they were referred to Worthy in May, and they gave her $1,000. At one point, Worthy said she had found them an apartment but claimed it needed electrical work before the couple could move in, Bennett recalled.

After a while she and Freeman got frustrated, Bennett said, and Freeman called Worthy to get the money back. But Worthy was “always giving him some false hope because she knew how bad we wanted an apartment,” Bennett said.

She and Freeman are now living with Freeman’s mother, having been told multiply times by Worthy that the “check is in the mail.”

As for Twyman, she is now going to school and working a temporary job while living at D.C. Village. In a brief follow-up interview Nov. 11, Twyman said Worthy had called "out of the blue" and left a message. Twyman said that when she called back and left a message but has not heard back.

Worthy said she had "just lost contact" with Twyman but was "supposed to be" meeting her soon. However, service providers are not convinced. “If [Worthy is] found to have taken folks’ money illegally, she should be prosecuted,” Chappelle said.