NEW ORLEANS MAN PLEADS GUILTY
TO MAIL FRAUD AND THEFT OF GOVERNMENT FUNDS
TORIS YOUNG, age 40, of New Orleans, Louisiana, pled guilty in federal court today before U. S. District Judge Carl J. Barbier to theft of government funds and mail fraud, announced U. S. Attorney Jim Letten.
According to court documents, after Hurricane Katrina, YOUNG, as the pastor and representative of the Bible Way Baptist Church located in New Orleans, Louisiana, applied for an SBA loan on behalf of the church to repair and to rebuild the church. YOUNG submitted fraudulent documents to the SBA and eventually received $963,900 in SBA loan proceeds. YOUNG did not use those funds to repair or to rebuild the Church. Instead, YOUNG used the loan funds for his own personal use, such as purchasing jewelry, vehicles, estate, paying credit card debt and designer clothing retailers.
YOUNG faces a maximum term of imprisonment of ten (10) years as to the Theft of Government Funds charge and twenty (20) years as to the Mail Fraud charge, a fine of $250,000.00 and three (3) years of supervised release following any term of imprisonment for each count. Sentencing is set for May 3, 2012.
The case is being investigated by the United States Small Business Administration– Office of Inspector General and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Loan “Mimi” Nguyen.
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