FBI arrests 2 FEMA employees on bribery charges

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The FBI arrested two Federal
Emergency Management Agency employees at their New Orleans base
camp on Friday and accused them each of taking $10,000 in
bribes from a food services contractor, the U.S. Attorney’s
office said.

The attorney’s office said the men, Andrew Rose and Loyd
Hollman, both of Colorado, became managers at the base camp in
the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans soon after Hurricane
Katrina hit.

According to the complaint, Rose and Hollman were arrested
at the camp after taking two envelopes containing $10,000 each
as suspected bribes from an unidentified food services
contractor.

The investigation began on December 22, 2005, when Rose and
Hollman allegedly approached a local food services contractor
to discuss how they could inflate the number of meals served to
FEMA workers in exchange for $20,000 in kickbacks from a $1
million meal service contract, the U.S Attorney’s Office said.

Rose and Hollman were arrested by federal agents
immediately after allegedly taking the payments from the
contractor.

“No one — whether citizen or public official — will be
permitted to illegally profit at the expense of the communities
and citizens who so desperately need FEMA funds and assistance
in the wake of this region’s terrible disaster,” said Jim
Letten, U.S. Attorney from the eastern district of Louisiana.

Lawyers representing Rose and Hollman could not immediately
be reached for comment.