Tampabay: Ex-public housing activist sentenced

U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday sentenced Gussie Livingston to 18 months behind bars and three years' probation Tuesday. Livingston, 55, had been the president of the residents' council at College Hill Homes until she moved from public housing about six years ago.

Livingston and her niece, Deanna Faison, were accused of defrauding about $13,900 from the Progressive Insurance Cos. in 1997 and 1998, according to court records. Faison, 29, who worked at Progressive as a claims processor, created false claim information concerning non-existent auto glass repairs, the records stated.

Faison then helped prepare payments for the work to be made to two corporations Livingston owned, GLL & Associates Inc. and One Stop Lawn Maintenance Inc. Livingston was accused of depositing the money into her corporate accounts.

From the start, Livingston and Faison said they were innocent. When the indictment was released in September 2000, Livingston said her companies performed many jobs and she deposited checks from many of them into her accounts. The indictment charged both Livingston and Faison with one count of conspiracy to commit insurance fraud and seven counts of wire fraud.

"I did not conspire with my niece to do insurance fraud," she said at the time. After a weeklong trial in July, a jury found the women guilty on all charges. In November, Faison received the same sentence Livingston got on Tuesday.

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