Gwinnett Woman Pleads Guilty in Scheme to Steal $50K in Hurricane Relief Funds

A Gwinnett County woman pleaded guilty in federal court in Atlanta to a scheme to steal disaster relief funds intended for victims of Hurricane Ike six years ago.

Angela Pratt Avery, 45, of Lawrenceville, pleaded guilty Tuesday, April 22, to theft of government money of more than $50,000. She and two other defendants who pleaded guilty earlier were accused of filing fraudulent FEMA disaster relief claims after Hurricane Ike, which hit the Texas Gulf Coast in September 2008.

According to U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates, Avery along with John Wheeler and Melody Lockett, both of Wilmerding, Pa., all three lived in Norcross at the time the storm hit. They filed claims in September 2008 and January 2009, falsely claiming that Avery and Carter lived at a Galveston, Texas, address damaged by the storm.

“These defendants lied by claiming they were victims of Hurricane Ike in 2008 and, based on those lies, stole over $50,000 in disaster relief funds that were intended for the true victims,” Yates aid in a press release.  “The Disaster Fraud Task Force was created in 2005 to target those fraudsters who would seek to turn the tragedy of a natural disaster into an opportunity to enrich themselves at the expense of the American people.”

Sentencing has not been scheduled yet.