New Orleans Woman Sentenced for Defrauding Louisiana Road Home and Small Business Administration

BARBARA SIMMONS DOWL a/k/a Barbara Dowl, Barbara Lee Dowl, Barbara Simmons, a resident of New Orleans, was sentenced today in federal court by Chief United States District Court Judge Sarah S. Vance, after having been convicted by a jury on a five-count indictment for Theft of Government Funds, False Statements and Wire Fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Jim Letten. BARBARA DOWL was sentenced to 69 months’ imprisonment as to Counts 1 through 5, ordered to make restitution in the amount of $156,000 to the Louisiana Road Home Program and the Small Business Administration, three (3) years of supervised release after her imprisonment and a $500 special assessment.

The Court imposed the sentence of 69 months after a contested hearing on the Government’s motion for an upward departure. The Court granted the motion and exceeded the guideline range to account for the impact that the defendant’s crimes had on non-governmental victims.

The defendant, BARBARA SIMMONS DOWL with her ex-husband originally owned property at 8633 Zimple Street, New Orleans, Louisiana. After losing the property for unpaid taxes, in 2004, the City of New Orleans sold the property to Robinson Ventures, LLC. On October 31, 2005, the defendant applied to the Small Business Administration for a disaster loan claiming that she owned 8633 Zimple Street. The defendant then met with a Small Business Administration representative twice and falsely claimed ownership to close her loan. On April 26, 2006, the defendant recorded a false quit-claim deed in Notarial Archives of the City of New Orleans stating that the City of New Orleans sold the property to the defendant on that date. Neither the City of New Orleans or Robinson Ventures, LLC authorized the sale of 8633 Zimple Street in this false quit claim deed.

As a result of the fraud perpetrated on the Small Business Administration, the defendant received $75,000.00 in cash. After the recordation of the false quit-claim deed, and receiving the SBA money, the defendant filed a Louisiana Road Home Program application falsely and fraudulently stating she was owner of 8633 Zimple Street on August 29, 2005, and that the property was her primary residence at the time of Hurricane Katrina. As a result of the defendant’s fraudulent conduct involving the Road Home Program, she was awarded a grant of $132,000 in Federal funds from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. At the closing of her Road Home Grant, she received a check for $85,930. Additionally, the defendant caused the agents for the Louisiana Road Home Program to send a wire transfer of $46,000 in grant funds to the Small Business Administration Finance Center in Denver, Colorado to partially pay off a Small Business Administration loan in the name of the defendant.

This case was investigated by the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development - Office of Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorney Marvin Opotowsky, W. Scott Laragy and Sharan Lieberman.