'Career Criminal' Convicted of Bilking WWII Veteran

A Metairie woman convicted of bilking money from a World War II veteran who resided at the assisted living center where she worked pleaded guilty Tuesday to being a four-time felon and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Catina Brown, 37, was sentenced on the one-year anniversary of the death of Jack Gray, 90, a former Navy Seabee who participated in the 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima and who lost about $7,000 in the scheme that Brown and her son carried out, authorities said.

"It's offensive to society, " Judge Chuck Credo of the 24th Judicial District Court told Brown. "It's offensive to me. It's offensive to everybody, because the elderly need to be taken care of just like children."

Gray was a resident of the Atrium at Lafreniere in Metairie, where Brown worked in sales and her son, Tyler Brown, 20, of Westwego, was a cook. They stole one of Gray's personal checks and used the account and routing numbers to bilk the veteran, Assistant District Attorney George Wallace said. Gray discovered the thefts and reported them.

Within a week of the thefts that began in October 2008, Brown began spending, including purchasing a $450 ticket for a cruise out of Miami, said Wallace, adding that in Gray, Brown found "the goose that laid the golden egg." Her banking records showed she also used Gray's money for purchases ranging from $93 at Mr. Binky's adult stores to pricey restaurant meals.

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Metairie Convicted of Bilking WWII Veteran Nets 20 Years as Career Criminal