Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

Plot to Steal Florida Hurricane Aid Leads to Indictments

Five people, including three business executives, were indicted on charges that they conspired to take $5 million in disaster aid after Hurricane Michael in 2018.

Hurricane Michael caused significant damage in Lynn Haven, Fla. in October 2018.Credit...Johnny Milano for The New York Times

Two former city officials in Lynn Haven, Fla. and three business executives have been indicted on charges that they conspired to fraudulently take $5 million meant for hurricane disaster aid from the federal government.

The federal grand jury’s 35-count indictment — which includes charges of wire fraud, mail fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering — lays out how prosecutors say the group advanced its scheme using falsified invoices and time sheets. Each of the people charged could face up to 20 years on the most serious count if convicted.

Michael Edward White, 46, the former city manager of Lynn Haven, and David Wayne Horton, 55, the former community services director, are among the five people charged with unlawfully using Federal Emergency Management Agency funds, Lawrence Keefe, the United States attorney for the Northern District of Florida, announced Tuesday.

The businesspeople charged in the scheme are David Mitchelle White, 38, the owner of Erosion Control Specialists; Joshua Daniel Anderson, 43, the owner of Greenleaf Lawn Care of Bay County; and Shannon Delores Rodriguez, 37, David White’s sister. All five defendants live in Panama City, Fla., according to a statement released by Mr. Keefe’s office. David White and Michael White are not related, authorities said.

Michael White and Mr. Horton received valuable goods and services, including repairs to their own homes, from the two companies they funneled money to, according to the indictment.

In one instance, David White purchased Michael White’s farm and vehicle for $300,000.

“The greatest cost of public corruption is the potential widespread loss of public trust in our government,” Mr. Keefe said in a statement. “It is a dangerous virus that threatens to infect public service and public trust in it, and we are committed to stop the spread of that virus of corruption.”

Efforts to reach all five members of the group were unsuccessful Tuesday night, and it was unclear if any of them had retained a lawyer at that time.

The city of Lynn Haven is in Bay County, which was devastated by Hurricane Michael in October 2018. The city is about 100 miles west of Tallahassee.

Prosecutors say this is how the scheme worked: Michael White and Mr. Horton, who were both Lynn Haven officials in 2018, approved false invoices submitted by Erosion Control Specialists and Greenleaf Lawn Care for work that was never done, the authorities said.

Afterward, the authorities said, the two men asked FEMA to reimburse the city for that money.

One of the falsified invoices, for example, claimed that employees from Erosion Control Specialists removed debris and performed cleaning activities in Lynn Haven, when in reality they were wrapping Christmas presents and preparing Halloween decorations for Mr. White and Mr. Horton, according to the indictment.

After the declaration of emergency was over, both Michael White and Mr. Horton “sought to locate additional Lynn Haven projects that could provide money" to David White and Mr. Anderson, according to the authorities.

“Abusing one’s position for personal gain — especially in a time of crisis — is a blatant disregard to the oath that every government official takes,” Rachel L. Rojas, a special agent in charge of the F.B.I.’s Jacksonville division, said in a statement Tuesday. “Federal assistance programs are established to help individuals, families, and businesses that have suffered tremendous loss, and abusing these programs is egregious.”

This is the second case of public corruption that the United States Attorney’s Office has announced in days. On Friday, Mr. Keefe announced charges against 29 people, including a federal official, “who actively worked to defraud the federal government and taxpayers of hundreds of thousands of dollars” that were meant for drought-stricken farmers.

“These individuals betrayed their duty as public servants and as citizens in a shallow but breathtakingly bold effort to lie, cheat, and steal from their fellow citizens and our federal government,” he said last week.

Aimee Ortiz is a general assignment reporter on the Express Desk. She previously worked at The Boston Globe.  More about Aimee Ortiz

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT