Atlanta Man Sentenced for Theft of Government Property

NEW ORLEANS—Jamon Dial, age 40, a resident of Atlanta, Georgia, was sentenced yesterday in federal court before U.S. District Judge Lance M. Africk to six months in prison after pleading guilty to theft of government property in connection with a program receiving federal funds, the New Orleans Affordable Homeownership (NOAH) program, announced U.S. Attorney Jim Letten. In addition, Dial received three years’ supervised release following his term of imprisonment and restitution to the city of New Orleans of the funds stolen. Dial had been credited with acceptance of responsibility by the U.S. Probation Office in his Presentence Report, which the court was poised to accept until Dial attempted to explain that the theft was due to faulty record keeping by him, as opposed to his failure to perform the work on the homes noted in the charges to which he pled guilty.

According to court documents, Jamon Dial, a subcontractor for New Orleans Affordable Homeownership (NOAH) contractor Parish-Dubuclet Services Inc., engaged in a series of thefts of funds provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to the city of New Orleans in the form of annual Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), designed to support home remediation work to residences following Hurricane Katrina. Jamon Dial admitted to being paid for five home remediations, which, in fact, never were performed or where the work was actually performed by the homeowner, some company hired by the homeowner, or one of the many volunteer organizations assisting citizens with remediations following Katrina.

James C. Lee, IRS Special Agent in Charge, stated that “structuring financial transactions to avoid currency reporting requirements is a criminal violation of federal law under the Bank Secrecy Act. Deliberately avoiding BSA requirements is a form of money laundering that will be vigorously investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation.”

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-Office of Inspector General, the U.S.Department of Homeland Security-Office of Inspector General, and the Internal Revenue Service. The case was prosecuted by Chief of the Criminal Division Fred P. Harper, Jr.