Contractor lied about FEMA pay to bilk hurricane-battered Louisiana town out of $600K, feds say

[TexasTowelie]

A man who scammed a small, hurricane-battered Louisiana town out of $600,000 by pretending FEMA would foot the bill for his recovery work faces up to three decades behind bars, the U.S. Department of Justice said Friday.

Clarence “Billy” Burkette was indicted Dec. 16 by a federal grand jury on several counts of wire fraud for allegedly misrepresenting his services to the St. Tammany Parish hamlet of Pearl River, which about 2,600 people call home.

Prosecutors say the 53-year-old contractor from the East Feliciana Parish town of Slaughter talked Pearl River leaders into hiring him to repair damage from hurricanes Katrina, Gustav and Isaac by claiming the Federal Emergency Management Agency would pay back most, if not all, of the cost.

But officials say that once the town tried to claim those reimbursements, elected leaders realized they’d been hoodwinked.

Read more: https://www.theadvocate.com/article_6e622b82-6506-11ec-9057-73bb31e22031.html

[Effete Snob]

1. Not his first time...

https://casetext.com/case/revocable-living-trust-of-christine-mccord-burkette-bonura-v-burkette-2

Clarence "Billy" Burkette's mother, Christine McCord Burkette Bonura, passed away on July 4, 2016. Following her death, counsel for the Revocable Trust of Christine McCord Burkette Bonura ("the Trust') filed a "Petition for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief and Cancellation of Power of Attorney and Accounting from Discharged Agent."

The petition alleged that prior to her death, Christine McCord Burkette Bonura signed a power of attorney, giving her son, Mr. Burkette, power of attorney to handle her affairs. Subsequently, Mrs. Bonura learned that the majority of her funds were withdrawn from her bank accounts by Mr. Burkette and that he was selling her timber for undisclosed cash payments. Upon learning of these "wrongful actions," Mrs. Bonura contacted counsel "to take the necessary action to cancel the power of attorney." Counsel prepared the Christine McCord Burkette Revocable Living Trust, naming Mrs. Bonura's brother, Glen Farrar, as the trustee upon her death and her grandchildren as beneficiaries. Additionally, counsel prepared a power of attorney, revoking all prior powers of attorney except those related to health care, and giving Mr. Farrar power of attorney to handle Mrs. Bonura's affairs.

Revocable Living Tr. of Christine McCord Burkette Bonura v. Burkette, 2017 CA 1511, 2 (La. Ct. App. Jun. 1, 2018)