JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Dozens of individuals, 25 of them from the First Coast, are accused of a slick scheme: trying to defraud the BP oil spill compensation fund to the tune of more than $1 million, authorities announced Tuesday. The individuals claimed they were employees of businesses hit hard by the April 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, filing lost income claims with the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, a company established to compensate victims of the spill, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice. Of the defendants, 26 face mail fraud charges, federal prosecutors said. Each faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. Combined, theyre accused of trying to defraud the fund of $1,085,626.90. The biggest offender is Justin Kelly, 33, of Jacksonville, who allegedly posed as other people to file multiple claims to the tune of more than $157,000. He faces an additional mandatory two-year term in prison, which has to follow any sentence imposed for mail fraud, prosecutors said. The indictment of these 27 individuals is yet another example of how the Secret Service continues to successfully identify and combat fraudulent schemes, said Lee Fields, Special Agent in Charge of the agencys Jacksonville field office. The Secret Service utilized state-of-the-art investigative techniques to dismantle this criminal network which will result in significant positive impact to both the local and area wide communities. Our success in this case and other similar investigation is a result of extraordinary work of our investigators and our close work with our network of law enforcement partners, Fields said. Heres a list of the local individuals charged in the scheme: Justin Kelly, 33, Jacksonville Jarrod Allen, 32, Jacksonville Lamar Anderson, 35, Jacksonville Dwight Barber, Jr., 28, Lawtey Reggie Bates, 46, Jacksonville Jameshia Bowes, 44, Jacksonville Michael Bowes, 27, Jacksonville Andrew Byers, 35, Jacksonville Jacinto Dor, 36, Jacksonville Tiffini Dor, 33, Jacksonville Vincent Green, 45, Jacksonville Angela Kelly, 60, Jacksonville Bobby Kelly, Sr., 59, Jacksonville Arlesia McRae, 43, Jacksonville Nigel Mills, 32, Jacksonville Charlotte Montgomery, 58, Jacksonville Robert Owens III, 29, St. Johns Terrell Reynolds, 35, Jacksonville Cheryl Richardson, 54, Jacksonville Ricky Riley, Jr., 27, Jacksonville Veronica Robinson, 32, Jacksonville Emmit Wade, Jr., 33, Jacksonville Matthew Walker, 34, Jacksonville Jarrett Williams, 24, Jacksonville Louis Wordlaw, 31, Atlantic Beach Several of the individuals are not yet in custody. Federal prosecutors are expected to seek to recoup the money lost to fraudulent claims. How much each would pay varies by the individual.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 23:02:31 +0000
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