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Stolen Hurricane Funds Indictments

Department of Justice announced this week that 49 individuals have been indicted for a scam to steal Red Cross hurricane relief funds. More such indictments are expected as Justice officials widen the investigation. Authorities say 22 people working for a Red Cross contractor at a call center in Bakersfield, California, filed false claims after the disaster of Hurricane Katrina. They then involved in the scam family members and friends at the center, which processed about 16,000 calls each day from across the country.

McGregor Scott, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California, says about $200,000 in lost funds had been traced to the all of those indicted, and that the total is expected to reach between $300,000 and $400,000. Meanwhile, FBI Special Agent Javier Colon said, "Our investigation is going to be expanded to include other parts of California and other states, and there are thousands of claims made in other states."

One analyst observed that "you have to be pretty sick in the head to want to take advantage of a horrible situation like what happened to the victims and refugees of Hurricane Katrina, to make money off of false claims while those people who really need the money are sometimes left in the lurch. This isn`t a case of a group of Robin Hoods. They`re bad people."