On May 23, 2017, DOT-OIG fugitive Shonda Renee Stubblefield, a.k.a Shonda McGowan, was arrested in Spring, TX, by DOT-OIG Agents and Deputies of the U.S. Marshals Service and Montgomery County Sheriff's Office. Stubblefield was arrested on a Federal warrant issued in response to a grand jury indictment that charged her with theft of public money, mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and aggravated identity theft related to a scheme to fraudulently receive Federal funds through FHWA's Congestion Mitigation Air Quality (CMAQ) Program. Agents located Stubblefield using information obtained through a Crime Stoppers tip. Stubblefield was found living in a rental property under an assumed name.

 

FHWA's CMAQ program provides funding to reduce congestion and improve air quality in areas that do not meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. The Houston-Galveston Area Council (HGAC) administered a program funded by FHWA to provide financial incentives to companies to participate in telework. Stubblefield owned World Corporation, a company that gained entry into the HGAC telework program.

 

On February 22, 2017, Stubblefield was indicted in the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division. The indictment alleged that Stubblefield falsely claimed that World Corporation operated, and recruited teleworkers for the HGAC telework program. Over an approximately 2 year-period, Stubblefield received CMAQ funds totaling $125,659 in reimbursement for business costs associated with an expansion of the World Corporation telework program that never occurred.