Woman gets 43 years for Hurricane Katrina fraud

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - A federal judge in Montgomery, Alabama, has sentenced a woman to 516 months or 43 years in prison for cheating the federal government after Hurricane Katrina. U.S. Attorney Leura Canary said in a statement, its one of the longest sentences to be handed out in a string of fraud-related convictions arising out of Hurricanes Katrina or Rita. Twenty-eight-year-old Bernetta LaShay Willis was convicted of 22 different counts involving the filing of false claims for disaster assistance, theft of funds, conspiracy, threatening a witness from another Katrina case, drug distribution, weapons charges and lying to federal agents. Canary said Willis was successful in stealing $80,000 in funds and had also devised a scheme to steal more than $500,000. At least 44 defendants from the Middle District of Alabama have been charged with defrauding the government of disaster assistance money. (© The Associated Press, All rights reserved.)