(The Center Square) – A former senior investigator for the Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans has been sentenced after admitting to a series of fraud schemes carried out while she was tasked with investigating misconduct by other city employees.
Leessa Augustine, 47, of New Orleans, was sentenced Dec. 16 by U.S. District Judge Greg Gerard Guidry to six months of home detention, followed by five years of supervised release, according to federal court records. Augustine, who is also ordered to pay $94,972 in restitution, pleaded guilty earlier this year to three counts of wire fraud and one count of making false statements to investigators.
Several other charges were dismissed at sentencing, including one count of wire fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft.
Federal prosecutors said Augustine exploited multiple public programs while working as a senior special agent for the Sewerage & Water Board and serving as a reserve officer with the New Orleans Police Department. In one scheme, she billed a police detail customer for hours she did not work, prosecutors said.
During some of those same hours, investigators said, Augustine used a Sewerage & Water Board–issued computer to carry out a separate mortgage and housing assistance fraud, creating fake W-2s, pay stubs and bank statements to qualify for federally backed loans and grants.
Prosecutors also said Augustine improperly collected federally funded unemployment benefits by concealing her city income and later obtained emergency rental assistance from the city using a fake lease and a termination letter from a fictitious employer. Court filings show she sometimes listed her city-issued phone number as a contact for people she impersonated.
