New Orleans Resident Pleads Guilty to Theft of Government Funds For Defrauding Road Home Program

BILLY RAY LAWRENCE, age 32, a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana, pled guilty today in front of U.S. District Judge Lance M. Africk to a one-count Bill of Information for theft of government funds in connection with a Louisiana Road Home Program application, announced U. S. Attorney Jim Letten.

According to court documents, in 2007, LAWRENCE applied for financial assistance for damage sustained on a property he owned located at 3417 Short Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70125, due to the effects of Hurricane Katrina. In his Road Home application, LAWRENCE represented that the address on Short Street was his primary residence on the date Hurricane Katrina struck. A subsequent investigation revealed that LAWRENCE’S was living elsewhere at the time Hurricane Katrina made landfall. As a result of the application, LAWRENCE received approximately $98,486.31 in Road Home funds belonging to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, who administered the program.

LAWRENCE faces a maximum possible penalty of ten (10) years imprisonment, three (3) years supervised release, a $250,000 fine, and a $100 special assessment. He faces sentencing before United States District Court Judge Lance M. Africk.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordan Ginsberg.