Arkansas Man Sentenced For Katrina Fraud

A federal judge has sentenced a Fort Smith, Arkansas, man to 18 months in prison for lying to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to get disaster assistance for Hurricane Katrina.

U.S. District Judge Robert Dawson also on Thursday ordered 46-year-old Anthony Owens Sr. to pay nearly $11,000 in restitution.

Owens reached a plea agreement with prosecutors and pleaded guilty in December to filing a false claim with FEMA.

He admitted he told FEMA officials he lived in an apartment in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina struck the city. Records show Owens received $10,780.

It turns out the address Owens gave FEMA was fictitious, that he wasn’t a New Orleans resident and that he wasn’t in the city when Katrina hit.

His attorney, James Pierce, couldn’t be reached for comment Saturday.