Out of prison 1 day on FEMA fraud charges, Clarke County woman commits new fraud

By Associated Press
MOBILE, Alabama — A Clarke County woman responsible for the region’s biggest personal fraud against the Federal Emergency Management Agency following Hurricane Katrina wasted no time committing a new offense when she got out of prison, prosecutors allege.
In fact, according to a federal prosecutor in Mobile, Lawanda Williams set the wheels in motion before she even got out of a halfway house Feb. 11. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Costello said Williams faxed documents to Alabama Power from a work-release job at a Taco Bell in Spanish Fort in preparation for fraudulently obtaining a loan in someone else’s name.
U.S. District Judge Ginny Granade threw the book at Williams today, rejecting the 37-year-old Jackson woman’s explanation that she intended to pay for the $3,000 worth of appliances she bought on credit.
“Frankly, Ms. Williams, I don’t believe your representations,” Granade said before sentencing her to another 2 years in prison, the maximum penalty. “The record from this court and others is that you are a con person and a fraudster. ... You have begun down a path from which there is no going back unless you decide to change.”
The judge also denied a request by Assistant Federal Defender Fred Tiemann to allow Williams to serve the sentence at the same time she serves a 10-year prison term imposed by a Clarke County Circuit Court judge for the same conduct.
According to court records, Williams got out of the halfway house on Feb. 11 and completed the purchase that same day in Jackson of a washer and dryer, a computer and a TV set from Alabama Power. A tip led Alabama Power to reclaim the items on March 4.
Williams admitted that she used the name and personal information of a woman named Tiffany Brooks, whom the defendant met in prison. Tiemann said his client knew she would not qualify for credit in her own name and had the woman’s permission to use hers.
“I wanted the court to be aware that the state is punishing her for the underlying conduct,” Tiemann told the judge.
Costello sought the 2-year maximum, noting that Williams has a string of criminal convictions dating to age 17 and that she has had only 2 months of verified employment in her life — in 1995.
“It’s the only appropriate sentence in this case. Frankly, it’s probably too little,” he said. “She had no intention of paying the money back.”
Williams pleaded guilty in 2006 to federal crimes stemming from her submission of 28 phony applications for assistance following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. FEMA approved 20 of those applications for $277,377.
Granade sentenced her in 2007 to 6 years and 3 months in prison and ordered her to pay back $267,377. The judge also ordered her to surrender 4 automobiles, real estate, televisions, electronics equipment and other items she purchased with the money.
At the request of prosecutors, Granade later chopped 8 months off of Williams’ sentence in recognition of assistance she provided in another case of FEMA fraud.