Slidell Man Sentenced for Wire Fraud in Aftermath of BP Oil Spill

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2015-08-21

U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that RONALD BACKES, age 48, of Slidell, was sentenced Wednesday after previously pleading guilty to wire fraud relating to an application for financial assistance in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

U.S. District Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle sentenced BACKES to one year of home detention to be followed by four years’ probation. Judge Lemelle also ordered BACKES to pay $192,000 in restitution.

The Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) made disaster assistance money available to individuals affected by the oil spill resulting from the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. The GCCF required individuals to verify loss of income. According to court documents, in August and September 2010 BACKES falsely represented to the GCCF that he earned $156,000 annually from a shrimping business and that another individual earned $36,000 annually as BACKES’s employee. To support these claims, BACKES created and submitted to the GCCF false receipts of shrimp sales. As a result of BACKES’s conduct, GCCF issued checks totaling $192,000.

Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office

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