Louisiana Woman Sentenced for FEMA Fraud and Ordered to Pay More than $22k in Restitution

Louisiana – On November 18, 2022, U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that Schshinetia Anderson, age 44, a resident of Slidell, Louisiana, was sentenced on November 17, 2022, for FEMA fraud. The defendant was sentenced by the Honorable Mary Ann Vial Lemmon to 5 years of probation and ordered to pay $22,104 in restitution to FEMA.

According to court documents, Anderson made a fraudulent request for financial assistance related to a natural disaster linked to the supposed loss of her principal residence on or about August 18, 2016. In reality, as she was well aware, the house she had been renting had not sustained any damage, and she had generated phony paperwork saying that it had. She also created fraudulent and exaggerated rent leasing agreements in order to boost the amount of money she received from FEMA. Anderson collected $22,104 as a result of her deception.

U.S. Attorney Evans applauded the investigation conducted by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General. Assistant United States Attorney G. Dall Kammer, Chief of the General Crimes Unit, is prosecuting this case.