Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, August 27, 1993                   TAG: 9308270044
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: DES MOINES, IOWA                                LENGTH: Short

RED CROSS VOLUNTEER CHARGED WITH FRAUD

Joan Tullock, 31, of Miami, who came to Iowa to work on flood relief, was charged Tuesday with first-degree fraud. She remained jailed Thursday on $13,000 bond.

Dale Moritz, a Polk County sheriff's detective, said it appeared Tullock and friends used the vouchers to pay for clothing, furniture, food and possibly motel bills. Some of the items were recovered in Tullock's motel room, he said.

The alleged fraud came to light over the weekend when a man and a woman went to Pidgeon's Home Furnishing store, claiming they were flood victims. They tried to buy a big-screen television and other luxury items with vouchers worth about $7,000, said Jerry Knapp, a manager at the store.

The vouchers were designated for bedding and furniture, and appeared to have nonexistent addresses on them, Knapp said. He refused to sell the luxury items.

Knapp said he called the Red Cross and got in touch with Tullock. "She said, `Why are you hassling these people? They have been through enough,' " Knapp said.

He said Tullock then came to his store to demand return of the vouchers, but he refused to give them up because he believed they were fraudulent.

Tullock was arrested Tuesday at the West Des Moines Red Cross office. - Associated Press