The U.S. District Courthouse in New Orleans.
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save A former Tangipahoa Parish Jail nurse has been accused of fraud, perjury and distributing drugs in a nine-count indictment, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Wednesday.
U.S. Attorney Duane A.
Evans' office said Tonya Denise Brown, 46, of Tangipahoa Parish, had been charged on Sept. 26. Brown was a licensed practical nurse who worked in the Tangipahoa jail for about three months ending in October 2022, according to the indictment.
She is accused of a scheme to take money in exchange for promises of assistance and favorable treatment with state criminal prosecutions, "including the reduction and elimination of criminal charges and bonds," the indictment says. The indictment says she solicited payments from inmates while working at the jail, in one case receiving an electronic transfer of $850. A Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office spokesperson, Ashley Rodrigue, said Brown was a contract worker in the jail and worked in the jail before Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff Gerald Sticker took office in July.
Federal authorities say Brown also defrauded people seeking disaster assistance, defrauded the HUD-funded Restore Louisiana Homeowner Assistance Program, which provides grant money to homeowners affected by disasters, and defrauded FEMA's rental assistance program. Brown is also charged with aggravated identity fraud for allegedly misusing a notary's identity in the rental assistan.