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Sharell Lanise Richardson and Rosemary Mackey -- FEMA Fraud

7 Women Sentenced For FEMA Fraud

POSTED: 4:23 pm EST February 27, 2008
UPDATED: 7:11 pm EST February 27, 2008

Seven Jacksonville women convicted of using a national disaster for personal gain have been sentenced for claiming to be among the thousands uprooted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Prosecutors said the women lied to get government aid. Now, two of them, Sharell Lanise Richardson and Rosemary Mackey, are facing jail time.

Richardson was recently sentenced to spend four months in prison, pay $8,000 in fines and serve two years probation. Mackey will also spend four months in prison.

Five other women also convicted were sentenced to a combined total of seven years and four months of probation.

The United States Attorney's Office said the women are being punished for a crime it takes very seriously.

In July, 11 Jacksonville residents were indicted for defrauding FEMA by claiming they were displaced hurricane victims from New Orleans or Galveston, Texas, according to investigators.

"In what they alleged in the form is they were displaced from Katrina or Rita and were living in Jacksonville. What the indictment alleged is they were always living in Jacksonville," said assistant U.S. Attorney Cathleen O'Malley.

Authorities called this fraud investigation Operation Hurricane Hunter.

This week, the U.S. attorney's office announced seven of the 11 indicted Jacksonville residents were sentenced in federal court.

Investigators said their work on Operation Hurricane Hunter is far from finished.

A representative with the U.S. attorney's office told Channel 4 the accused ringleader in the case has yet to be sentenced, saying that hearing should be complete on Friday.

They also said some others are still awaiting trial.

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