Marrero Woman Pleads Guilty to Making False Statement to FEMA
| U.S. Attorney’s Office October 13, 2011 |
PATRICIA A. BOWMAN, age 54, a resident of Marrero, Louisiana, pled guilty yesterday before U.S. District Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle to making a material false statement to FEMA, announced U.S. Attorney Jim Letten.
According to court documents, BOWMAN falsely represented on her application for disaster assistance that she resided on Morgan Court, Westwego, Louisiana, and had evacuated from that address when Hurricane Katrina struck on August 29, 2005. The truth was that BOWMAN was living on Claire Avenue, Gretna, Louisiana, on August 29, 2005, and did not evacuate. BOWMAN received $2000 from FEMA based upon her false statement.
The maximum penalty BOWMAN faces is a maximum term of imprisonment of five years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentencing is scheduled for January 11, 2012.
The case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dorothy Manning Taylor.