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Reserve Woman Sentenced for Defrauding American Red Cross
NEW ORLEANS, LA—LEOLA STEWART, age 44, a resident of Reserve, was sentenced in federal court today by U. S. District Judge Jay C. Zainey to five (5) years probation and ordered to make full restitution, announced U. S. Attorney Jim Letten. In addition to the five years probation and the order of full restitution, United States District Court Judge Jay C. Zainey sentenced STEWART to perform 250 hours of community service with the Red Cross, the charitable organization she admitted to defrauding.
According to court documents, LEOLA STEWART who pled guilty in September 2008, applied for and received disaster assistance funds from the Red Cross 8 times during a roughly three week period. The Red Cross made disaster assistance money of up to $1565 available to those affected by the hurricanes of 2005 on a one-time only basis. STEWART repeatedly applied for these funds throughout the early fall of 2005, each time indicating that she had not yet received any money at all from the Red Cross. In all, STEWART fraudulently obtained $9,933.46 from the American Red Cross.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U. S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana. The prosecution was handled by Assistant U. S. Attorney Dan Friel.
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