Sentencing set for New Orleans trumpeter in charity fraud

By KEVIN McGILL
Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A musician who became a symbol of New Orleans’ resilience after Hurricane Katrina is set to be sentenced on a federal fraud charge. Trumpet player Irvin Mayfield and his musical partner — pianist Ronald Markham — were scheduled for sentencing Wednesday morning. Each pleaded guilty last year to a conspiracy to commit fraud charge. Prosecutors say the two steered more than $1.3 million from the New Orleans Public Library Foundation to themselves. Mayfield was among musicians who took a high-profile role in promoting New Orleans after the levee failures and catastrophic flooding during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.