NEW ORLEANS – A local woman and a real estate closing agent were sentenced to prison Wednesday for stealing $600,000 of Hurricane Katrina’s "Road Home" grant money and depositing it into her account at ASI FCU.
Shawnell Venson, 37, pleaded guilty to posing with her fiancé, Willie Smith, as relatives of elderly Road Home grant applicants. An accomplice, Derrick Beaulieu, also pleaded guilty, admitting that he used his position as a closing agent at First American Title to change routing instructions for the grants so they would go to Venson’s credit union account.
First American was hired by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to handle many of the payments for the Road Home grants, which went to rebuild homes destroyed by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Agents at HUD, the Social Security Administration and the FBI investigated the scheme when ASI sent some of the money back to First American.
Venson and Smith tried to keep the money in their accounts by calling on the phone and posing as legitimate Road Home applicants' relatives.
Venson was sentenced to 18 months in prison and Beaulieu, was sentenced to 30 months. Each was ordered to pay a $2,000 fine and to serve three years of supervised release.
Smith is awaiting sentencing.
