Tagged: crime

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a 41-year-old businessman who moved to New Orleans from Georgia after the catastrophic BP oil spill in 2010 has been charged with defrauding a compensation fund set up for victims.

The Justice Department says Dwayne Smith was charged last week on one count of mail fraud.

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten alleges Smith moved to New Orleans four months after the Deepwater Horizon explosion and set up a business called D&D Designs.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in New Orleans says a LaPlace man has been sentenced to 37 months in prison after being convicted on charges including tax evasion and obstruction of justice.

Prosecutors said 60-year-old James W. Nelson was in the business of preparing and filing tax returns. His business had multiple offices in the New Orleans area. However, they said Nelson, or his employees, prepared and filed false income tax returns for his customers. The U.S. Attorney's news release Friday said Nelson also failed to pay taxes on some of his own income.

A 50-year-old New Orleans woman has been charged with bank theft for allegedly embezzling thousands of dollars from her employer.

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said Friday that Karen Sork was charged in a one-count Bill of Information. According to the document, Sork worked at a Whitney Bank branch and stole about $56,299 from the bank. Authorities say the money was used for her personal use and benefit.

MANDEVILLE, La. (AP) — The ex-husband of a woman whose body was found in St. Tammany Parish Sunday evening has surrendered to Calcasieu Parish authorities

Capt. George Bonnett says investigators had a warrant accusing Calvin Jefferson of second-degree murder of 31-year-old Nicole Jefferson.

Jefferson surrendered late Tuesday, about six hours after the sheriff's office announced the warrant for his arrest.

COVINGTON, La. (AP) — St. Tammany Parish authorities are working to identify a woman's body found along Interstate 12.

The body was discovered Sunday afternoon near Covington.

WWL TV reports (http://bit.ly/Jb5uxp ) the identity of the body is unknown, but officials with the St. Tammany coroner's office said the body is that of a female.