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Woman faces 10 years for fraud in black farmer funds
Associated Press
Published July 14, 2005
JACKSONVILLE - A college administrator pleaded guilty Tuesday to passing friends and relatives off as farmers to collect $50,000 in settlement payments approved for black farmers who were wrongly denied government loans.
Emma Okari Brooks, 55, is one of three people accused of conspiracy to submit false claims to the U.S. Department of Agriculture to collect $400,000 from a national settlement reached with black farmers in a 1997 loan discrimination case.
Brooks runs an agricultural extension program at Michigan State University and is the former vice president for academic affairs at Edward Waters College in Jacksonville. She faces up to 10 years in prison; sentencing is scheduled for August. Prosecutors dropped eight other fraud counts as part of the plea agreement.
Daniel Anekwu, the former senior vice president for business and finance of Edward Waters College, pleaded guilty in May.
Brooks and Anekwu each agreed to testify against Kimberly Colston Woodruff, of Tallahassee, who has not been arrested and may have left Florida.
[Last modified July 14, 2005, 00:30:10]
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