JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - Two former Florida city council members were sentenced to prison Thursday and ordered to pay restitution for numerous convictions stemming from fraud over a failed barbecue sauce operation.
A judge in Jacksonville sentenced former city council member Katrina Brown to nearly three years in prison. Another former council member, Reggie Brown, was sentenced to 18 months behind bars.
The Florida Times-Union reports Katrina Brown also was ordered to pay over $425,000 in restitution, while Reggie Brown must pay more than $411,000. The two are not related.
They were convicted last year of numerous crimes including mail and wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy.
The case revolved around a $2.65 million loan Katrina Brown got to build a factory that would make Jerome Brown BBQ Sauce. But the business never materialized, and Katrina Brown continued to send invoices for work never done that also involved entities controlled by Reggie Brown, court testimony showed.
“This offense occurred because of Katrina Brown and her decisions. She devised the scheme … she knew that it was wrong,” U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard said at Thursday’s sentencing hearing.
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