Three Residents Charged With Making False Hurricane Katrina Claims

Three Mississippi residents have been accused of making false claims to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for Hur-ricane Katrina relief funds.

Dunn Lampton, U.S. Attorney for the southern district of Mississippi, told the Meridian Daily News that Bryan Michael Beets of Vicksburg; and Markqus Antonio Brown and Henry Jerome Armstrong of Meridian; were arrested.

Federal authorities said each man falsely claimed they lived in a dwelling that was damaged by Katrina. If convicted, they face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

“Disasters such as this bring out the best and the worst in people,” Lampton said. “It is reprehensible to know that people who had no damage from Hurricane Katrina would engage in obvious illegal activity to fraudulently obtain hurricane relief money. Sadly, the people committing these crimes are taking money away from the real victims of the hurricane.”

Lampton said two other people who allegedly made false claims have not been apprehended or charged.