Press Releases
Title
October 3 , 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jackson, Mississippi - United States Attorney Dunn Lampton announced today that Dianne M. Dean of Picayune, Mississippi pled guilty to making a false claim and a false statement to FEMA to fraudulently obtain Hurricane Katrina disaster benefits. Dean also pled guilty to making false statements to the Rural Development Agency of the Department of Agriculture in order to fraudulently obtain rural housing service payment subsidies. Dean admitted in her guilty plea that on September 11, 2005, she submitted a false application for disaster assistance with FEMA claiming she lived at 928 Clover Circle in Picayune. Dean also admitted that she did not live in the home when Hurricane Katrina hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Dean received $2,000 from FEMA. Her sentencing hearing is set before U.S. District Judge Walter J. Gex, III in Gulfport on January 16, 2007. Dean faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine, plus restitution to both FEMA and the Department of Agriculture.
In September, 2005, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales created the Hurricane Katrina Fraud Task Force, designed to deter, investigate and prosecute disaster-related federal crimes such as charity fraud, identity theft, procurement fraud and insurance fraud. The Hurricane Katrina Fraud Task Force - chaired by Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division - includes members from the FBI, the Federal Trade Commission, the Postal Inspector’s Office and the Executive Office of United States Attorneys, among others.
Pursuant to the Justice Department initiative, a local Katrina Fraud Task Force, consisting of over 20 Federal and State law enforcement agencies, was formed in the Southern District of Mississippi to pursue and prosecute individuals who file false and fraudulent claims.
If anyone has information concerning possible fraud being committed during the post-Katrina recovery effort, please call either the DHS-OIG Fraud Hotline at 1-866-720-5721 or the FBI Fraud Hotline at 1-800-225-5324.
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