Bogalusa Woman Pleads Guilty to Defrauding American Red Cross
| U.S. Attorney’s Office April 28, 2010 |
NEW ORLEANS, LA—NAKETRA GUY, age 24, a resident of Bogalusa, Louisiana, pleaded guilty in federal court today before U.S. District Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt. to one count of wire fraud relating to a series of fraudulent applications for financial assistance that she submitted to the American Red Cross in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, announced U.S. Attorney Jim Letten.
According to court documents, the Red Cross made disaster assistance money of up to $1565 available to those affected by the hurricanes of 2005 on a one-time only basis. GUY admitted that she applied for and received disaster assistance funds from the Red Cross up to six times between September 22, 2005, and October 7, 2005. GUY repeatedly applied for these funds throughout the early fall of 2005, each time indicating that she had not yet received any money at all from the Red Cross. In all, GUY received at least $9,390.00 from the American Red Cross, of which $7,825.00 was fraudulently obtained.
GUY faces a maximum term of imprisonment of twenty (20) years, a fine of $250,000, and three (3) years’ supervised release. Sentencing has been scheduled for July 28, 2010.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordan Ginsberg.