Press Releases
TERREBONNE PARISH WOMAN PLEADS GUILTY TO KATRINA RELATED FRAUD
April 9, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BARBARA KNIGHTSHEAD, age 52, a resident of Chauvin, Louisiana, plead guilty before U. S. District Court Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt to a one-count Indictment charging her with theft of government relative to a scheme to defraud the Louisiana Department of Social Services, Office of Family Support, announced U. S. Attorney Jim Letten.
KNIGHTSHEAD faces a possible maximum term of ten (10) years imprisonment, a fine of $250,000 and three (3) years of supervised release following any term of imprisonment, Sentencing is scheduled for July 2, 2008 at 9:30 A.M.
According to factual basis, between September 4, 2005 and November 30, 2005, KNIGHTSHEAD, a Social Services Analyst with the Louisiana Department of Social Services, Office of Family Support, devised a scheme to defraud the Department of Social Services of $9,564 in the form of Electronic Benefit Transfer cards by means of false and fraudulent pretenses and misrepresentations. KNIGHTSHEAD fraudulently altered Disaster Food Stamp Program applications of family members by adding fictitious household members so as to increase the level of benefits received from the Department. KNIGHTSHEAD also applied for disaster food stamps for herself and her husband with bogus social security numbers and false information concerning their income so as to obtain benefits from the Department. Additionally, KNIGHTSHEAD fraudulently entered data into the computer system authorizing disaster food stamps for individuals who were not authorized to receive benefits from the Department
The investigation was conducted by Special Agents with the U. S. Secret Service. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorney Julia K. Evans.
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