NEW ORLEANS — An Amtrak employee has been charged with making false statements and theft of government funds relating to coronavirus relief, U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans has announced.
Stacey V. Santemore, 46, of Houston, but previously of New Orleans, has been charged with making false statements to the U.S. Small Business Administration to fraudulently receive $89,000 in pandemic-relief loans, including money from the Paycheck Protection Program of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act. Santemore also received more than $1,000 in CARES Act unemployment aid from the Louisiana Workforce Commission between April 2020 and March 2021, despite being fully employed by Amtrak.
Santemore could receive up to five years in prison, up to $250,000 in fines, and three years of supervised release for the false-statements charge, and up to 10 years in prison, $250,000 in fines, and three years of supervised release for the theft charge.
In a press release, Evans praised the work of the Amtrak Office of Inspector General and Department of Labor Office of the Inspector General for their investigation of the case.
It is the second federal criminal case in recent months out of New Orleans involving an Amtrak employee. Last month, a former employee pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges relating to funds collected for a non-existant charter trip, and for collecting sick pay while working another job [see “Former Amtrak employee pleads guilty …,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 28, 2022].
This person is just a small drop in the proverbial bucket. Just read an article about the Feds going after folks who received millions in Covid money and there were no employees, no business and some multi state con jobs.
#1 rule in theft, the easier you make it to get the money, the more likely it will be that someone will steal it.
The government started handing out money in huge gobs with nothing resembling the necessary staff and procedures to monitor where the cash was going or why.