Thursday, August 24, 2006

4 Indicted Over Katrina Debris Removal

GULFPORT, Miss. - Four people have been indicted on charges of falsifying records of debris cleanup from Hurricane Katrina and billing the federal government more than $700,000 for work they didn't do.

Those charged Thursday were Allen Kitto, 24, of Dundee, Fla., whose company was a subcontractor for debris cleanup in Pearl River County, near the Louisiana border; and Clinton K. Miller, 28, Devin Chuter, 23, and Lauren Robertson, 23, who worked as debris removal monitors, said U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton.

According to the indictment, Chuter and Robertson signed false slips misrepresenting that debris was loaded onto trucks and delivered to a dump site. Lampton said that in most instances, the two created and signed the false load slips at their homes and the work was not done.

The indictment also charges that Kitto, in an effort to conceal the conspiracy, would deposit the funds into a bank account opened in the name of one of his employees and then write a check to an unindicted co-conspirator, who would then pay Kitto and Miller.

Lampton would not release further details on the co-conspirator. .....

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