Westwego Woman Sentenced For Theft of Government Funds

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Louisiana

NEW ORLEANS – United States Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that PENELOPE PASSERO (“PASSERO”), age 50, of Westwego, Louisiana, was sentenced on December 10, 2024 for Theft of Government Funds, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 641.

According to court documents, from February 2016 to December 2020, PASSERO knowingly accessed and converted approximately $59,320.97 in Social Security Administration and Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES ACT”) funds.

United States District Judge Wendy B. Vitter sentenced PASSERO to time served as to Count 1 of the Indictment.  PASSERO was also sentenced to three (3) years supervised release, payment of a $100 mandatory special assessment fee and restitution in the amount of $59,320.97.

On May 17, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud.  The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources, and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts.  For more information on the department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.

Anyone with information about allegations of fraud related to COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office would also like to acknowledge the assistance of the Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General, with this matter.  The prosecution of this case is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian M. Klebba, Chief of the Financial Crimes Unit.