April 22, 2008
For more information contact:
Managing Assistant U.S. Attorney Dixie Morrow
(850) 444-4000
GULF BREEZE RESIDENT SENTENCED TO FEDERAL PRISON
FOR HURRICANE KATRINA FRAUD
Pensacola, Florida - United States Attorney Gregory R. Miller, Northern District of Florida announced that Stephen P. Wehner, a resident of Gulf Breeze, Florida, was sentenced to four months imprisonment to be followed by three years supervised release with a condition that he serve an additional four months home detention. He was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $40,414.73. Wehner was convicted of making a series of false statements to the Small Business Administration (SBA) following the disaster declaration the President of the United States entered as a result of Hurricane Katrina. Following the President’s declaration, SBA made available low interest loans to eligible and affected New Orleans residents. On two separate occasions in October 2006, while living in Gulf Breeze, Florida, Wehner applied for such low interest disaster relief loans, claiming an address in New Orleans as his primary residence. Wehner claimed that he suffered “$27,000+” in losses of personal belongings in the New Orleans residence damaged by the storm. He faxed an itemized list of personal property valued in excess of $40,000 claimed to have been destroyed. After he received an initial disbursement of $10,000 in SBA loan proceeds, he faxed a request for an additional disbursement, claiming that he had incurred $14,588 in expenses associated with installation of hurricane shutters on his Gulf Breeze residence. Wehner admitted that he did not suffer any damage to a residence in New Orleans nor to personal property when Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in August 2005. In addition, the document Wehner submitted to SBA had been altered to change both the dates and amounts, increasing the expenses associated with installation of hurricane shutters by $10,000. As a result of Wehner’s false application and claims, SBA disbursed a total of $40,000 in loan proceeds to him, by electronically transferring three payments to his bank account.
In September 2005, the Department of Justice 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 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 Special Agent Louis Desselle, SBA Office of Inspector General (Office of Investigations), New Orleans, Louisiana. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen P. Preisser of the Pensacola Division.