ALFRED COLEMAN, age 54, and his wife TYIST DECQUIR COLEMAN, age 42, residents of Harvey, Louisiana, were sentenced today in federal court by U.S. Court Judge Eldon E. Fallon for conspiracy to steal government funds, announced U. S. Attorney Dana J. Boente.
According to court documents, on or about Nov. 30, 2007, TYIST DECQUIR COLEMAN began receiving rental assistance from the Disaster Housing Assistance Program (DHAP), a program funded through the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to assist persons renting housing following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. DHAP provided federal funds to pay for rental properties for persons for at least 18 months. However, in order to be eligible persons must have been renting their residence. TYIST DECQUIR COLEMAN was not renting housing at that time. Prior to Nov. 30, 2007, TYIST DECQUIR COLEMAN had married ALFRED COLEMAN and they resided in a home in Harvey, Louisiana which was owned by ALFRED COLEMAN. From on or about Jan. 1, 2008 until on or about March 1, 2009, TYIST DECQUIR COLEMAN, continued to fraudulently receive monthly rental assistance from DHAP through the Jefferson Parish Housing Authority for rental assistance at the Harvey, Louisiana home, failing to disclose that she was not renting her residence, but that she and ALFRED COLEMAN were living at the residence which was owned by ALFRED COLEMAN.
Following the termination of DHAP assistance benefits, TYIST DECQUIR COLEMAN, representing herself as Tyist Dequir, signed a Request for Tenancy Approval for the Housing Choice Voucher Program, a HUD funded program for low-income citizens renting their housing. The COLEMANs claimed that TYIST DECQUIR COLEMAN was renting the home ALFRED COLEMAN owned and that ALFRED COLEMAN was her landlord. The COLEMANs fraudulently received rental payments from the federal program for the home they owned until Jan. 1, 2012.
ALFRED COLEMAN was sentenced to three years probation. TYIST DECQUIR COLEMAN was sentenced to three years probation with an additional condition of intermittent confinement to prison for 12 weekends. The defendants are responsible for restitution in the amount of $44,013.
The case was investigated by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development-OIG and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Emily K. Greenfield.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
