More than 1,000 individuals throughout the Eastern District of Louisiana were defrauded in a scheme that appears breathtaking in its audacity.
A 22-count federal indictment was unsealed in New Orleans charging Connie M. Knight, 46, with impersonating a federal employee in order to get people to pay her for fraudulent hazardous waste safety training after the BP Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill.Knight targeted members of the Southeast Asian communities in Southern Louisiana, many of whom neither read nor spoke English well and were out of work because of the closing of fisheries from the disaster. Knight was also charged with possessing false federal identification documents, creating false federal identification documents and transferring false federal identification documents to her employees.
Court documents say that Knight impersonated an Occupational Safety and Health Administration “Master Level V Inspector and Instructor” with fake OSHA credentials, and a false OSHA email address. Knight thereby enticed individuals to pay for fraudulent hazardous waste safety and awareness training under the pretense that they would get work helping to clean Gulf oil spill. More than 1,000 individuals throughout the Eastern District of Louisiana were defrauded in a scheme that appears breathtaking in its audacity.
The U.S. Department justice department said that after the BP Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil disaster, many fisheries closed, causing fishermen in the Gulf region to seek other sources of employment, including as oil spill cleanup personnel. All cleanup workers were required to receive hazardous waste safety training before working in contaminated gulf oil spill areas due to dangers from the oil itself and the toxic cleanup materials.
Knight, previously of Belle Chasse, Louisiana was arrested by federal agents earlier today in Wiggins, Mississippi.
Charges of producing and transferring fraudulent federal identification documents each carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. The charge of possessing a fraudulent federal identification document carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a fine of $5,000. The 19 counts of falsely impersonating a federal employee each carry a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
