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Mississippi Still Dealing with Katrina Repair Fraud

Three years later, victims still being taken advantage of

November 24, 2008
Three years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Mississippi Gulf Coast, the state is still investigating home repair fraud complaints and making arrests.

In the last few weeks Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood says his office has made three more arrests for home repair fraud in cases being worked by its Consumer Protection Division. The arrests are the Attorney General's 95th, 96th and 97th since Hurricane Katrina.

Randy Lee Davis, age 36, living in Stone County, turned himself into the Consumer Protection Division on Tuesday November 18, 2008 on a charge of felony home repair fraud. Davis, who had been living in Saucier, is accused by a Saucier resident of failing to build a new home in Saucier after the homeowner lost a home in Pass Christian to Hurricane Katrina.

Edward William Callison, age 62, of Fort Worth Texas, was arrested on November 17, 2008. Callison had moved to South Mississippi in late 2005 and opened a model home/modular home sales lot on Highway 49 in Gulfport, under the name Becky Sue's Gallery of Homes. He then moved back to Texas, closing the business after July of 2007. In late 2007 and early 2008, the Consumer Protection Division began to receive complaints.

In one complaint, a Hancock County resident paid for a home that was never delivered. In two other complaints, homes were delivered but the homeowner's had numerous problems with the installation not being completed.

Edward Callison's wife, Becky Sue Callison, age 51, of Fort Worth Texas, was arrested on November 6, 2008 and charged Felony Home Repair Fraud and Felony Embezzlement.

"We are nearing 100 arrests for home repair fraud since Katrina," said Hood. "We will keep at it as long as the cons continue to operate."

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