Washington, D.C. -Shellette Jackson, a former U.S. State Department employee, has been sentenced for fraudulently obtaining over $50,000 in housing benefits, food stamps and direct public assistance, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor, Inspector General for the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Kenneth M. Donohue, and Inspector General for the U.S. State Department Howard J. Krongard, announced today. The conviction was the result of investigative efforts initiated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under Operation FedRent, a nationwide effort launched last year to combat federal government employees who are defrauding public housing programs.

Jackson, 34, and a resident of Southeast Washington, D.C., was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before the Honorable Judge Paul L. Friedman on one felony count of False Claims and one misdemeanor count of Fraud in Obtaining Public Assistance. Judge Friedman sentenced the defendant to 36 months of probation on each charge, and ordered her to perform 100 hours of community service, and pay $50,384 in restitution to the District of Columbia. As a result of her conviction, Jackson will also be disqualified from receiving certain public assistance benefits for a period of six months.

According to the Statement of Offense to which Jackson previously pled guilty, Jackson was an administrative assistant at the U.S. State Department from September 1999 through December 2006. Starting in December 2000, Jackson fraudulently applied for direct housing benefits and assistance from the D.C. Housing Authority and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and falsely understated her true income to obtain money and benefits to which she was not otherwise entitled to receive. Jackson submitted false pay statements and doctored documents from the U.S. State Department to support her fraudulent income claims. In 2002, Jackson also submitted fraudulent claims for assistance to the D.C. Department of Human Services and the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture to obtain food stamps and funds from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program to which she was not eligible to receive based upon her true income. In total, between December 2002 and June 2006, Jackson received $50,384 in public benefits she was not eligible to receive.

In announcing today’s sentence, U.S. Attorney Taylor, Inspector General Donohue, and Inspector General Krongard praised the hard work of the investigative agents involved in this matter, especially Special Agent Lea Nelson of the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of State, and Special Agent Ronnyne Bannister of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General. They also extended their thanks to Investigator Bonnie Burns of the D.C. Department of Human Services who assisted in the investigation of this case. Lastly, they acknowledged the efforts of Legal Assistant Teesha Tobias and Assistant U.S. Attorney Tejpal S. Chawla, who prosecuted this matter.