Hammond Woman Sentenced for Defrauding American Red Cross
| U.S. Attorney’s Office August 11, 2010 |
APOLONIA KIMBLE, age 24, a resident of Hammond, LA, was sentenced in federal court today before U.S. District Judge Martin L.C. Feldman to five years’ probation, including six months’ home detention, after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud relating to fraudulent applications for financial assistance that she submitted to the American Red Cross after Hurricane Katrina, announced U.S. Attorney Jim Letten. In addition, KIMBLE has been ordered to pay $5,725 in restitution to the Red Cross and a $100 special assessment.
According to court documents, KIMBLE applied for and received disaster assistance funds from the American Red Cross five times. The Red Cross made disaster assistance money of up to $1,565 available to those affected by the hurricanes of 2005 on a one-time only basis. KIMBLE repeatedly applied for these funds throughout the early fall of 2005, indicating that she had not yet received any money at all from the Red Cross. In all, KIMBLE fraudulently obtained $5,725 from the American Red Cross.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sharan E. Lieberman.