Arrests Made in Alleged Katrina Scheme - Los Angeles Times

Arrests Made in Alleged Katrina Scheme - Los Angeles Times: "rrests Made in Alleged Katrina Scheme
# FBI says four workers at a Red Cross call center in the Bakersfield area funneled relief checks to relatives and friends. The probe is expanding.

By Eric Malnic, Times Staff Writer

Nine people in the Bakersfield area have been charged with wire fraud in a scheme that siphoned off Red Cross funds intended for victims of Hurricane Katrina, the FBI said Tuesday.

Four were contract workers at a Red Cross national call center in Bakersfield, said Lawrence Brown, first assistant U.S. attorney in Sacramento. The other five were friends and relatives who picked up relief checks they weren't entitled to, he said."