Press Releases
PICAYUNE MAN PLEADS GUILTY IN FEDERAL COURT TO DEFRAUDING LOUISIANA ROAD HOME PROGRAM
June 26, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ROBERT LOMBARDINO, age 72, a resident of Picayune, Mississippi, pled guilty yesterday in front of United States District Judge Stanwood R. Duval, Jr. to a one-count Bill of Information for theft of government funds in connection with a Louisiana Road Home Program application, announced U.S. Attorney Jim Letten.
According to court documents, in 2007, LOMBARDINO applied for financial assistance for damage sustained on a property he owned located on Livaccari Drive in Violet, Louisiana, in the Eastern District of Louisiana, due to the effects of Hurricane Katrina. In his Road Home application, LOMBARDINO represented that the address on Livaccari Drive was his primary residence on the date Hurricane Katrina struck. A subsequent investigation, however, revealed that LOMBARDINO was living elsewhere at the time Hurricane Katrina made landfall. As a result of the fraudulent application, LOMBARDINO received approximately $134,000 in Road Home funds.
LOMBARDINO faces a maximum possible penalty of ten (10) years imprisonment, three (3) years supervised release, a $250,000 fine, and a $100 special assessment. He faces sentencing before United States District Court Judge Stanwood R. Duval, Jr. on September 16, 2009.
The case was investigated by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorney Jordan Ginsberg.
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