A former New Orleans police officer pleaded guilty last week to stealing from
a government fund designed to help Hurricane Katrina victims.
Tracie Medus, 39,was charged with theft after authorities discovered that she’d taken $158,700 from a fund created to help hurricane victims return to their homes, but hadn’t adhered to the program’s guidelines.
Medus was placed on unpaid suspension in November after the Feds announced that charges were pending against her.
“U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that TRACIE MEDUS, age 39, a New Orleans Police Department police officer, was charged yesterday with theft of government funds. According to the New Orleans Police Department, MEDUS has been placed on unpaid emergency suspension pending the outcome of this case,” the FBI’s website announced on November 5, 2014 in a statement.
“According to the Bill of Information, from in or about July 2009 to in or about March 2011, MEDUS stole $158,700 from the Louisiana Road Home’s Small Rental Property Program. MEDUS obtained the funds in the form of an award funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.”
Medus, who owned two apartment units, claimed she was using government funds obtained from a Department of Housing and Urban Development program–the Louisiana Road Home Program’s Small Rental Property Program– to rent to eligible recipients.
According to NOLO.com, “For a landlord to be eligible, he or she would need to rent units at capped rates to tenants who met certain income levels. Those tenants would have to live in the units prior to the payment of funds.”
However, in her guilty plea, Medus admitted to overcharging tenants and renting at least one unit to a person who didn’t qualify for the program.
Medus was a 17 year veteran of the New Orleans Police Department. She faces up to ten years in prison at her sentencing, currently set for April 30th.
