On Thursday, it was announced that a Baton Rouge, Louisiana man had pled guilty to theft of money from FEMA relating to the 2016 Baton Rouge flooding. 42-year-old Courtney D. Hickman was accused of stealing $26,362 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. After the 2016 flooding, FEMA funds were made available to local residents who had emergency needs for food, clothing and shelter. To quality, it was essential for the applicant to have resided in the home at the time of the storm.
Hickman pled guilty to theft of government funds. Court documents show that in August 2016, Hickman filed a fraudulent claim with FEMA, while insisting his primary residence was his Baton Rouge home at the time of the storm. It was later determined that Hickman was actually living elsewhere at the time and had been renting out the home to a tenant for at least 4 months before the flood.
Hickman will be sentenced at a later date.
