Appeals court to hear Katrina fraud case
Published 3:07 pm Wednesday, October 21, 2009
A federal appeals court is scheduled to hear arguments Nov. 4 from a Mississippi man convicted of defrauding FEMA.
William C. Breland Jr. was convicted in 2008 of lying to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to obtain disaster assistance after Hurricane Katrina. He appealed to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which will hear the case in New Orleans.
Federal prosecutors say Breland lied when he claimed to have lived in a Pass Christian home that was destroyed during the 2005 storm.
Breland was convicted in U.S. District Court in Gulfport of six counts, including false claim, false statement, stealing and mail fraud.
Breland was sentenced in January to 24 months in prison with three years supervised release and was ordered to pay $29,619 in restitution.