Warr motion details similar grants awarded
Former Mayor Brent Warr’s attorneys argue that five Katrina fraud charges against him should be dismissed because, like other property owners, he legitimately received a homeowner’s grant even though his family was not living full time in the destroyed house.
The motion to dismiss the charges, included in a 20-count indictment against Warr and his wife, Laura, was filed late Monday in U.S. District Court. The five charges Warr seeks to have dismissed allege the couple defrauded the federal government when they applied for and received a $150,000 homeowner’s grant to help repair their Beach Drive home, which had been under renovation before Katrina hit.
Prosecutors contend the Warrs were actually living in a rental home when they claimed the beach home as their primary residence on the grant application. But the Warrs maintain they considered the beach house their primary residence, so their statements on the application were true.
Sun Herald
9/1/9
