(October 9, 2006)--Experts say finding an honest, readily available contractor is a challenge these days on the Gulf Coast as hurricane recovery continues.

Last year's Hurricane Katrina demolished tens of thousands of homes and sent several hundred thousand evacuees to Texas.

Authorities expect the construction fraud problem to grow worse as more federal grant money reaches homeowners in Mississippi and Louisiana.

In March, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour signed into law a measure elevating home-repair fraud from a misdemeanor to a felony, punishable by up to ten years in prison.

Since Katrina, the Mississippi attorney general's office has opened more than 350 home-repair fraud investigations.

At least ten have led to arrests.

The Louisiana attorney general has investigated more than 190 cases and made arrests in 30 of them.

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