November 4th, 2009
Memphis Resident Pleads Guilty in Hurricane Katrina Fraud Case
Memphis, TN - Jennifer Blaye, 39 of Memphis, Tennessee pled guilty today for violating federal statutes relating to Mail Fraud, announced Lawrence J. Laurenzi, United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee. Blaye was charged in June of this year with nine counts of filing false claims, 14 counts of mail fraud, and 14 counts of wire fraud for her own financial gain. Although Blaye pled guilty to only one count -- for mail fraud -- all of the charged conduct will be taken into account as relevant conduct at Blaye's sentencing, currently scheduled for February 10, 2010.
Ms. Blaye was charged with filing nine fraudulent applications for disaster relief with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) within six weeks of the date Hurricane Katrina -- one of the costliest and deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States -- struck New Orleans in August 2005. According to the indictment and court documents, Blaye filed the fraudulent applications for relief using addresses that were in some cases fictitious and in other cases addresses of properties she did not in fact own. In addition to filing the false claims, Blaye used names and social security numbers that were fictitious or belonged to other people, some of them deceased. From September 2005 to January 2007, Blaye made numerous phone calls following up on and pursuing relief on the fraudulent applications, including faxing a letter to FEMA stating that she had been under a great deal of stress because of the tragedy she had been through.
Blaye confessed to the scheme, as a result of which she received 28 payments by check and electronic transfer totaling almost $140,000 which was intended for true victims of Hurricane Katrina.
This case was a result of an investigation by Special Agent Jerry Coleman of the Department of Homeland Security. Assistant United States Attorney John Fabian is handling the case for the government.
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