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United States Attorney Matthew D. Orwig
Eastern District of Texas
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: DAVILYN BRACKIN
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2006
PHONE: (409) 839-2538
CELL: (409) 553-9881
LONGVIEW WOMAN SENTENCED FOR HURRICANE RELATED FRAUD
TYLER, Texas - A 29-year-old Longview, Texas, woman has been sentenced for posing as a Hurricane Katrina victim and attempting to defraud the federal government, U.S. Attorney Matthew D. Orwig of the Eastern District of Texas announced today.
Tomisha Embry was sentenced to three years probation and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution to the federal government for mail fraud. Embry was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis.
"Last year's storms brought out the best and worst in people," said U.S. Attorney Orwig. "We will continue to seek out and aggressively prosecute those who attempted to take advantage of this situation."
According to information presented in court, on Sept. 8, 2005, Embry submitted an application to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) seeking disaster assistance. Embry claimed to be a resident of New Orleans at the time of Hurricane Katrina, and reported that she had suffered damage to her property. In fact, Embry was a resident of Gregg County, Texas, and never experienced hurricane-related losses. As a result of this false claim, Embry received a check for $2,000 for disaster-related expenses and was subsequently charged with filing a false claim with FEMA.
In September 2005, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales created the Hurricane Katrina Fraud Task Force, designed to deter, investigate and prosecute disaster-related federal crimes such as charity fraud, identity theft, procurement fraud and insurance fraud. The Hurricane Katrina Fraud Task Force - chaired by Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division - includes the FBI, the U.S. Inspectors General community, the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Executive Office for United States Attorneys and others.
This case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Jackson of the Eastern District of Texas.