Ex-FEMA worker, cousin charged with Katrina fraud


By HOLBROOK MOHR
Associated Press
Jan. 11, 2010


JACKSON, Miss. -- A former Federal Emergency Management Agency employee and her cousin have been charged in what could be the biggest theft of Hurricane Katrina relief money by individuals made public since the 2005 storm, a U.S. attorney said Monday.

Former FEMA worker Lashonda Booker, 35, and her cousin, Peggy Hilton, are accused of stealing more $721,000 in money that was meant for storm victims, court records said.

U.S. Attorney Donald Burkhalter told The Associated Press it's the biggest single theft of Katrina money by individuals made public so far.

The women were charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud Friday in a criminal information in U.S District Court in southern Mississippi. A criminal information is a charge filed by prosecutors without a grand jury indictment.

Booker had no comment when contacted Monday at her home in Moss Point. Hilton could not immediately be located and Booker would not provide her phone number. Booker also wouldn't say if the women have lawyers.

Booker, who worked in FEMA's Biloxi, Miss., office, is accused of using the National Emergency Management Information System, a government database, to get information about storm victims who applied for assistance. She's accused of passing that information along to Hilton who used it to get FEMA to send the money to a different bank account, one "Hilton controlled," according to court documents.

Booker and Hilton, who turns 36 Tuesday, recruited the help of their family members and friends, who allowed the money to be deposited in to their bank accounts, prosecutors say. Then they would divide the money, the information said.

Booker already worked for FEMA when she was transferred to the Biloxi office in January 2006, "where her duties included the processing of Katrina disaster assistance claims, including home replacement and rental assistance applications," the information said.

Prosecutors said the scheme continued until May this past year.

Three victims in court records were listed only by their initials. The amount of money diverted from them was a total of nearly $58,000. Court records did not say how many other victims' information was used.

"FEMA cannot comment on the details of this case, however FEMA has no tolerance for fraud against the agency or the citizens we serve," said spokesman Clark Stevens. "Public service is grounded in public trust, and FEMA will work to assist the appropriate law enforcement entities whenever there is a possibility that trust has been violated through illegal actions."

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