Watching KVille

Ah, thank goodness the FBI is following through on issues and problems resulting from Hurricane Katrina.

We all know FEMA sure isn’t doing much.

Still, I am not entirely sure that sending a woman away to federal prison is the best way to deal with fraud ensuing from Katrina, especially when the sentence could be up to the maximum of 20 years.

In a press release from the FBI New Orleans Desk, 46 year old Barbara Stewart of Reserve, Louisiana pled guilty to wire fraud in connection to her fraudulent applications to the Red Cross in the months after Hurricane Katrina.

According to the FBI’s case, Stewart applied for Red Cross financial aid 8 times in September and October 2005. At the time, the Red Cross offered financial assistance for the disaster relief of those affected by the hurricanes in 2005. It was a one-time payment of $1565. Instead of receiving the charity and appreciating it, Stewart must have taken advantage of the chaotic nature of disaster relief to receive 8 one-time payments, in total of $12,520 over the course of two months. Stewart supposedly kept telling the Red Cross that she simply never received the money, and I guess that little ploy worked seven more times.

Now, Stewart is facing 20 years…for a little more than $12,000. Admittedly, we do have to punish those who take advantage of others, especially charitable organizations, but 20 years, come on. Wouldn’t it fit the crime instead to mandate that Stewart pay off her debt to the Red Cross and Society in general literally? Granted, Stewart is also facing fines of up to $250,000 (that’s a quarter of a million dollars here, so I’m sure Stewart can just write a check, right?), so in essence any fine can go toward restitution. However, as I highly doubt the guilty party will be able to pay her potential fine; for a crime of this nature, couldn’t Stewart be put into a work program in which she could gain a valuable skill for later use, and then get out of the cycle of poverty, and maybe not feel the need to scam the Red Cross?

I don’t know, maybe I am idealistic in thinking that poverty tends to lead people down the path to a life of crime, or even a small foray into what can be construed as smaller crimes. The US penal system is simply not working as it is set up. The system will pay thousands and thousands of dollars to house criminals, but spend relatively little to rehabilitate them, and why is that? I truly believe that, given the choice, most people would much rather earn their living than steal it. Sure, there are always those out there that will become criminals no matter what upbringing they have had or which socioeconomic class they come from (hi, Enron and WorldCom), but the large majority of criminals are in that predicament due to poverty or other dire situations.

Hurricane Katrina created a desperate situation for many people, and those that were already experiencing the ills of poverty, were perhaps driven to extremes. Does a bad situation excuse bad behaviour? No, of course, but maybe if this nation spent more on preventing poverty and crime, we would not have so many of our poor in prisons.

Just a thought.

FBI, FEMA, New Orleans, Hurricane, Katrina, wire fraud, prison, poverty, Red Cross, penal system, Louisiana

Now, I am not one to advocate defrauding the Federal Government, even when the ineffective and ineffectual FEMA is the government entity in question, but I do think the possible sentence for defrauding FEMA is a bit, well, excessive.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation published a news release on Friday detailing the case of Trinise Causey of New Orleans. Causey is facing 20 years in a federal penitentiary for scamming FEMA for, get this, $2,358. That’s almost a year for every $100 she got for her efforts.

The FBI reports that Causey has pled guilty before a federal judge last week. She is going to jail because she commited “wire fraud”, technically. Causey filed a false claim with FEMA in September 2005, following Hurricane Katrina. She claimed to have suffered property damage. She even went as far as to produce a fake lease in order to make her claim look more credible.

Other than the severity of the punishment, the other thing that surprises me is how long Causey waited for that “rental assistance” check from FEMA. She filed her claim in September, submitted additional paperwork in November, and didn’t receive any money until MARCH 2006. Good thing she didn’t actually have any property damaged (or whatever actually went on — I tend to think that she did lose some stuff, but just couldn’t prove it, and possibly claimed to have lost more than she did) ’cause she would have been screwed if FEMA was all she could count on.

Anyway, Causey is facing one count of wire fraud, as the money (again, that’s $2,358) was wired to her bank account. That begs the question — or many questions if you start thinking about the fact that the FBI can investigate and charge this one little woman in three years, but still cannot seem to do much about charging war profiteers for willfully defrauding the US from billions — would Causey be guilty of wire fraud if she had received a paper check from FEMA, or what would they have charged her with then?

New Orleans, FEMA, wire fraud, FBI, Federal Government, Hurricane Katrina

Ok, I know there was just a film that came out that featured a church robbery as a sign of desperation for two black men (Tracy Morgan and Ice Cube) in First Sunday, but this next story is just sad, not funny.

Noah Thomas, a Marrero, Louisiana man, has been charged with mail fraud by the FBI. It seems that Thomas felt fit to have a $35,000 check from the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund mailed to his house and then deposited in a personal checking account. He also had the initial $10,000 installment of the SBA (Small Business Administration) Loan that the Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church applied for, as the church did not have flood insurance at the time of Katrina, deposited into the same personal account.

How dumb do you have to be? And how greedy can you get? Stealing the rebuilding money for a baptist church. That must carry the punishment of your own circle of hell.

Thomas was the pastor of the Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church on the 2200 block of South Liberty Street in New Orleans. The church was devastated in the flood, and the money that Thomas is alleged to diverted from the church coffers for his own personal benefit was meant to rebuild the church.

Thomas, if convicted, faces up to twenty years in prison. He could also be fined a quarter of a million dollars…all for $45,000.

Pathetic.

The Times-Picayune reported that the Pilgrim Missionary has a sign out front that has a new pastor listed. I should hope so, however, Thomas has not been found guilty as of yet, and the bible does say something about not judging or something.

Still, the sad part is…he probably is guilty. Sigh.

New Orleans, FBI, church, pastor, Noah Thomas, Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church, Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, SBA, flood, Katrina