NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
JANUARY 16, 2008

NAPOLEONVILLE WOMAN SENTENCED FOR DEFRAUDING FEMA

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA -ALBERTINE WIGGINS, age 24, a resident of Napoleonville, LA, was sentenced today by U. S. District Judge Ivan Lemelle to six (6) months home detention with electronic monitoring, five (5) years probation, and restitution to FEMA in the amount of $5,922.38, announced U. S. Attorney Jim Letten.

According to court documents, ALBERTINE WIGGINS pled guilty to a two count indictment charging her with wire fraud and theft of Government funds. Specifically, WIGGINS contacted FEMA purportedly to obtain financial assistance for another individual. In the course of this contact with FEMA, WIGGINS provided her personal checking account number to FEMA, and as a result close to $6,000 was transferred to WIGGINS. The individual for whom the assistance was to be provided did not receive the money.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorney Dan Friel.

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