U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that TRACY C. HARTMAN, 49, of Slidell, pled guilty today to a one-count Bill of Information charging her with lying to federal agents.
According to court records, on January 4, 2006, HARTMAN and her husband were approved for a Small Business Administration (SBA) Disaster loan in the amount of $182,700, resulting from Hurricane Katrina damages.
TRACY HARTMAN and her husband defaulted on the SBA disaster loan. As a result of the loan default, in or about June 2010, the SBA began garnishment proceedings for Mr. Hartman’s payroll checks from St. Bernard Parish. In or about December 2011, the SBA stopped receiving the HARTMAN’s garnishment payments from St. Bernard Parish. A letter, purporting to be from the SBA, was received by St. Bernard Parish claiming the debt had been paid and to stop the garnishment. The letter was a forgery and was not prepared by the SBA. On or about April 20, 2012, HARTMAN made a false statement to federal authorities that she did not know the origin of the fraudulent letter which was hand delivered to the St. Bernard Parish government by her husband on or about Nov. 29, 2011. After further investigation, it was determined that HARTMAN composed the letter.
HARTMAN faces a possible maximum sentence of five years imprisonment, and/or a fine of $250,000 and up to three years of supervised release. U.S. District Judge Martin L.C. Feldman set sentencing for Feb. 24, 2016.
U.S. Attorney Polite praised the work of the Small Business Administration, Office of Inspector General in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorney Carter K. D. Guice, Jr. of the Fraud Unit is in charge of the prosecution.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
