FIVE PLEAD GUILTY IN CONSPIRACY TO FILE MORE THAN 75 FRAUDULENT FEMA CLAIMS

(HOUSTON, Texas) - Five defendants charged with conspiring to file more than 75 false FEMA claims for Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita disaster assistance have pleaded guilty, United States Attorney Don DeGabrielle announced today.

Four defendants, Erica Prince, 28, Tawana Chevis, 25, Roland Dixon, 21, and Carroll Ashton, 33, pleaded guilty this morning in federal court to one count of conspiring to file false claims. A fifth defendant in the case, Daniel Ellis, pleaded guilty to the same charge last week. Five others, charged in the indictment, are pending trial Oct. 9, 2007.

At this morning’s hearing, Prince admitted to having filed online FEMA claims in her name and the names of other individuals. In addition to having claims filed in their own names, Chevis and Dixon obtained Social Security numbers and dates of birth from residents of apartment complexes in Houston and provided that information to Prince, who then filed FEMA claims in those person’s names even though the applicants were living in Houston when Katrina and Rita struck. Ashton and Ellis admitted to providing information for false FEMA claims and to cashing FEMA assistance checks in their names.

Although Prince and others in whose names she filed false claims for hurricane disaster assistance lived in HUD Section 8 housing in Houston prior to Katrina and Rita, the claims falsely listed damaged addresses in New Orleans (for the Katrina claims) and Beaumont (for the Rita claims). In many cases, the addresses did not even exist. In all, the indictment alleges Prince filed more than 75 claims and that FEMA paid $92,958 in response to those claims.

Prince had the FEMA checks mailed to her address or to the address of a mailbox for which she had obtained the key. After receiving the checks, Prince would take the check to the individual listed in the claim, go with that individual to a business where the check could be cashed, and then collected a portion of the cash for herself and for the person who had recruited that applicant.

At the conclusion of the hearing today, United States District Judge Kenneth Hoyt signed a preliminary order of forfeiture for a Lincoln Navigator, finding evidence presented at the hearing established Prince purchased the vehicle in October 2005 using proceeds of the FEMA fraud conspiracy. Based on an previously issued seizure warrant, federal agents had seized the Navigator the same day they arrested Erica Prince.

Hoyt set a sentencing date of Jan. 7 for Prince, Chevis, Dixon and Ashton and Dec. 17 for Ellis. They each face a statutory maximum punishment of five years and a fine of up to $250,000. Prince, Chevis, Ashton and Ellis are on bond pending their sentencing. Dixon is currently being held in Harris County jail on unrelated state charges.

A total of 59 individuals have been charged in the Southern District of Texas with fraud relating to Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Rita. As a result of today’s pleas, 51 of the 59 defendants have been convicted.

This case was investigated by Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General (OIG), Department of Housing and Urban Development OIG and the FBI. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Gregg Costa

The United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas is a member of the Department of Justice's Hurricane Katrina Fraud Task Force, created by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales to deter, detect and prosecute unscrupulous individuals who try to take advantage of the Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita disasters. Headed by Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher, the Task Force is comprised of federal, state and local law enforcement investigating agencies and the United States Attorney’s Offices in the Gulf Coast region and nationwide.

Anyone suspecting criminal activity involving disaster assistance programs can make an anonymous report by calling the toll-free Hurricane Relief Fraud Hotline, 1-866-720-5721, 24 hours a day, seven days a week until further notice. Information can also be emailed to the inspector general at dhsoighotline@dhs.gov or sent by surface mail, with as many details as possible, to Department of Homeland Security, Attn: Office of Inspector General, Hotline, Washington, DC, 20528.